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MEMOIRS AND SERVICES 

OF 

THREE GENERATIONS 



GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 
First New Hampshire Line. War of the Revolution 

JONATHAN LONGFELLOW 
Father of Sarah, wife of General Joseph Cilley 



COLONEL JOSEPH CILLEY 
U. S. Senator and Officer in the War of 1812 

HONORABLE JONATHAN CILLEY 
Member of Congress from Maine 



COMMANDER GREENLEAF CILLEY 
War with Mexico and War of 1861 

GENERAL JONATHAN P. CILLEY 
First Maine Cavalry, War of the Rebellion 



REPRINT FROM THE COURIER-GAZETTE 



Rockland, Maine 
1 909 



CsM5 



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God of our fathers, known of old, — 
Lord of our far-flung battle line — 

Beneath whose awful hand we hold 
Dominion over palm and pine — 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,- 

Lest we forget — lest we forget. 





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GEN. JONATHAN P. CILLEY 



The Cilley-Graves Affair 



Being a Concise Account of the Tragedy Which 
Ended the Career of a Famous Member of a 
Famous New England Family. 



Prom time to time in the last 50 years 
items and brief articles have been pub- 
lished in the local press relating to the 
famous duel in which Jonathan Cilley 
of Thomaston was killed by William J. 
Graves of Kentucky. Next to the duel 
between Alexander Hamilton and 
Aaron Burr, no event of the character 
ever attracted more attention, than 
that beween Graves and Cilley, and it 
is accordingly a matter of national in- 
terest, to say nothing of the connect- 
ions which make it of pronounced local 
importance. 

The Lewiston Journal a few weeks 
ago published a short account of the 
affair, but with this issue The Courier- 
Gazette publishes an installment of the 
first story which has ever been com- 
piled especially for the convenience of 
the newspaper readers of the present 
day. The Journal's story, with some 
corrections is used as the foundation 
of this article, and the cuts published 
by that paper have been remodelled for 
the purpose of illustration. 

One of the most noted families in all 
New England is the one from which 
Gen. Jonathan P. Cilley of Rockland 
originated. For more than a full cen- 
tury not a single member of that fam- 



ily has been unknown to fame, and 
some of them have written their names 
high up in the temple of fame. While 
dating back several hundred years the 
family tree has been most conspicuous 
since the time of Gen. Joseph Cilley of 
Revolutionary fame. This patriot 
fought at the battles of Lexington, 
Stony Point, Monmouth and Bemis's 
Heights, and with his command was 
present at the capture of Burgoyne. 
After the close of the Revolution he 
was commissioned major general. In 
the engagement of Saratoga he ac- 
quired national fame. The enemy had 
posted a piece of artillery in a position 
that was doing great damage to his 
regiment. Becoming iriitated at the 
havoc. Col. Joseph called his regiment 
around him and boldly charged the po- 
sition, capturing the piece. In order to 
encourage the men to hold fast to their 
prize the gallant colonel ordered the 
gun loaded and then leaping upon it 
and drawing his sword he shouted: 

"I now consecrate this gun to the 
cause of American liberty!" 

The effect Avas electrical and the 
position was held, while the inci lent 
became one of the traditions of the 
war. At the close of the war he re- 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



turned to his home in Notting^ham, N. 
H., where the remainder of his life 
■<\as passed in peace and quiet. 

Battle of Monmouth 

We present as a matter of historip 
interest, a letter written by General 
Joseph Cilley, who took part in the 
Revolutionary battle of Monmouth— 
the famous battle at which Washington 
swore roundly at Gen. Lee: 

Camp 4 miles above White Plains, 
New York, July 22, 1778. 

Col. Thomas Bartlett, Nottinerham, 
New England, State of New Hampshire 
—Dear Colonel: — Your favor of the lO'.h 
of July came safe to hand by Major 
Titcomb; am much obliged to you for 
its contents. I left Valley Forge the 
ISth of June with the right wing of the 
armv under the command of Gen Lee. 
in pursuit of the enemy who left Phila- 
delDhia the 18th. The whole of the 
army pursued with his Excellency Gen- 
eral Washington. Crossed the Dela- 
ware at a ferry called Cold Corels, 
when it was thought best to send over 
several parties to harass the enemy's 
rear. Gen. Scott was .sent first with 
1600 picked men from the whole army 
in order to watch the enemy's motions. 
I was ordered on this party. Soon it 
was thought best to give the enemy 
battle. General Lee was sent on this 
errand. He called in General Scott, in 
short he had 5,000 Continental troops 
besides a number of militia. On the 
28th of June he was ordered to attack 
the enemy with his party, and that 
General Washington with the whole 
army would support him. 

We were at a small town, called Eng- 
lishtown, about four miles from Mon- 
mouth Courthouse, where the enemv 
lay. We began our march before sun- 



rise; proceeded towards the field of bat- 
tle; came to the plain — the enemy gave 
way, seeming to be in great confusion 
without making any opposition, except 
some scattering musketry and a ft;w 
fieid-r>iecGs playing on both sides at 
long range — when to my great surprise 
I saw the right wing of our parly giv- 
ing away in great confusion. There 
was a morass in our rear. I thoutcht 
whether it was not intended to cross 
that in order to take better ground. 
There was a wood in the rear of ihe 
party I was with. We were ordered to 
cross and form in that wood, where we 
lay some time. The enemy observing 
this, halted, came to the ri^ht-about 
and pursued us about two miles, when 
General Washington came up, ord^r^id 
our party to make a stand to check the 
enemy, while the army could form, 
which was done immediately. Th-i .se- 
verest cannonading ensued as ever was 
in America. Our men behaved with 
great fortitude. The cannonading last- 
ed two or three hours. I was in the 
front line of our army on the left 
wing. 

His excellency ordered me to take 
the battalion I then commanded, con- 
sisting of 350 rank and file, detached 
from Poor's, Patterson's, Larnard's 
and Varnam's brigades, with Lii'ut. 
Col. Dearborn and Major Thayer v.'ho 
were with me, to go and see wh.at I 
could do with the enemy's right wing, 
which was found in an orchard in oui 
front. I marched on towards them un- 
til I came within about forty rods, 
when I ordered my battalion to form 
the line of battle, which was done. The 
enemy began a scattering- fire. I or- 
dered my men to advance, which thev 
did in good order. When the enemv 
saw that we were determined to push 
close to them, they gave way and took 
post in scouts of woods and gave me a 




GEN. J. CILLEY 
Colonel 1st N. H. Line in the Revolu- 
tion, Great-Great-Grandfather 
of J. P. Cilley. 



COL. JOSEPH CILLEY 

U. S. Senator and Officer in War of 

1812, Uncle of J. P. Cilley. 



BATTLE OOP MONMOUTH 



very heavy Are under the cover of sev- 
eral pieces of artillery. I advanced 
within a few rods; gave them a heavv 
fire which put them in confusion. Th^'y 
ran off. I killed a number on the fi^Ad, 
took between twenty and thirty prison- 
ers and should have pursued furth<^r 
but the extreme heat of the weather 
was such that several of my men died 
with the heat. We took possession of 
the field; about 300 of the enemy dead, 
with several officers, among them was 
Col. Monckton who commanded the first 
battalion granadiers. They retreated 
that night about 11 o'clock in prreat 
confusion, leaving at the court house 
five wounded officers and about 40 sol- 
diers. We should have pursued, but 
our army was so overcome with llie 
heat that the General thought not ad- 
visable to pursue. 

Desertions still continue from the 
enemy. At the least computation their 
army has weakened 2,500 since they 
left Philadedphia. I think Clinton has 
brought himself into a fine hobble. He 
has now a French fleet in his front 
and General Washington in his rear. I 
think we shall "Burgoyne" him in a 
few weeks, which God grant may be 
the case. Doubtless the particulars of 
the strength of the French fleet will 
come to your hand long before this, or 
I would write you some account of 
them. This may suffice. They are able 
to flog all the British sheep in America. 

Mv love to your wife and mother, I 
am, sir, with respect, your friend and 
humble servant, J. Cillev. 

N. B. — General Lee's behavior is now 
on trial for his conduct. How it will 
turn Is uncertain. It is my opinion that 
if he had behaved well we should have 
destroyed the major part of Clinton's 
army. 



Anti-Slave Senator. 

Nearly as famous was his grandson. 
Col. Joseph Cilley, whose life has well 
been portraited by John R. French, ex- 
sergeant-at-arms of the U. S. Senate. 
He wrote: 

Now was the first election of a .'sena- 
tor of the United States on the direct 
an ti- slavery issue. 

Colonel Joseph Cilley was his name 
and title; a name honored in all the 
histoty of New England; a title won on 
the battle-fields of his country. He 
was a Democrat, but no longer in party 
affiliation, for his Democracy knew no 
color line, and in principle was as uni- 
versal as the human family. He had 
not the eloquence of W^iodbury and 
Hubbard and Pierce, and nothing of 
their elegance of manners, and, what 
was of vital importance in this hour, 
nothing of their obsequiousness of 
spirit. 

The gallant General Cilley, of Revo- 
lutionary fame, was his ancestor. "C'l- 
ley of Maine," the noble young man 
who dared some utterance in the House 
of Representatives hostile to slavery, 
whereupon Henry Clay marked him as 
"a dangerous man to have about Con- 
gress," and so set Graves of Ken- 
tucky up to his butchering on the 
duel field of Bladensburg— he was this 
new senator's youngest brother. 

Joseph Cilley, at his election to the 
Senate, was an old man. Not only 
broken and shattered by the contests of 
three-SK:ore years and ten, but by the 
strife of his country's battle-fields, in 
which he had borne gallant part. He 
was with Scott and Miller in all the 
bloody conflicts of the Canadian border 
in the war of 1S12; and from those 
fields he had come with but one eye 
left, and his body weighted with the 



8 



THREE GEXERATlOS^g. 



leaden bullets of his country's enemy. 

Such was the man, the half blind, 
limping hero whom New Hampshire 
sent to the Senate, as the vanguard of 
liberty, on the 13th of June in the year 
1846. A new type of a man in that 
body. Ah! and so different from men 
lately there from New Hampshire. No 
one would lead him to his seat. The 
doorkeepers, usually so obsequious, 
turned their backs to this man. But he 
found the vacant seat belonging to 
Ne-w Hampshire, laid his trusty staff 
across the desk, and sat down with the 
air of rightful possesfcion. He looked 
about the hf 11— scowling upon him from 
all sides — and though he had but one 
eye, that blazed with such manly in le- 
pendence that no shrinking fellow that 
day thought him blind. His voi^e was 
not like that of his predecessors. It 
had not been trained in the schools, 
nor had it learned the dulcet tones of 
suppliant -waiting in the salons of the 
rich and haughty. It had been exer- 
cised in sterner duties. At Lundy's 
Lane, at Chippewa, and at Niagara, 
amid the roar of cannon it shouted de- 
fiance to British soldiery, and called 
his countrymen to the deadly charge. 
Its honest tones, rough they may have 
been, were now lifted in the nation's 
Senate for Liberty, unconditional and 
univer?al, without concealment and 
without compromise. 



Right of Petition. 

He spoke for a state which had met 
-with a "new birth." He demanded the 
right of petition, and commenced pre- 
senting them by the thousand, asking 
for the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and in the territories 
Speak he would, and demanded the 
freedom of speech for every citizen. He 



planted himself on the Declaration of 
Independence, and called the nation to 
judgment. He stood theie for a fact— 
namely, the determination of the peo- 
ple that slavery should go down. 

He stood there alone, shattered and 
broken in limb and body, this old sol- 
dier, but his veins throbbed with rare 
blood; the blood of one of the most gal- 
lant families of the state; blood which 
baptized Revolutionary f.e.ds, and with 
its purple gore marked the front of 
every battle of the nation from Bunker 
Hill to Appomattox. Of the more than 
three-score senators around the board 
he alone stood for Liberty. 

But beneath that national sounding- 
board, which Charles Sumner in after 
years described as "the sounding- 
board of the nation's pulpit," he kne-w 
his voice would find reverberations 
which would carry it through the land, 
and that in good time others would 
come trooping to his side, until the for- 
lorn hope he led would become the in- 
spiring shout of the mighty majority. 

Insolence and flattery alike were 
wasted upon this man. No clamor 
could alarm him. Patronage could not 
sway him. "Social influence," always 
so abounding at Washington, in all its 
riotous luxury couldn't sweep high 
enough to reach the serene atmosphere 
of this trusty soldier. 

The day Joseph Cilley took his seat in 
the Senate, slavery was doomed. Here 
an old, crippled soldier had come to 
ring its knell; and he bid them listen to 
the tolling; peradventure through 
counsel and legislation the Nation and 
Liberty might be saved, and there re- 
main no occasion for the arbitrament 
of war. 

But the slaveholder was proud. He 
defied God and sneered at his prophet. 
He would not listen to the warning un- 




JONATHAN CILLEY 
Killed in • Duel by Graves of Kentucky, Feb. 24, 1838. 



JONATrtA]^ ClLLfi-^ 



9 



til it broke upon his startled ear from 
the brazen throats of a thousand can- 
non. 

Joseph Cilley was the first of his par- 
ty in the Senate of the United States. 
This gallant old soldier, limping from 
battle wounds, half blind by the car- 
nage of war, led the w'ay to the Senate 
for that grand company of statesmen 
who, hearing his bugle call, followed 
after, until they were a majority in the 
highest forum of the earth, and em- 
blazoning upon the pages of the world's 
history its most luminous record, made 
this nation a republic of freedom. 



Jonathan Cilley. 



The member of this family who pos- 
sesses the deepest and most melan- 
choly interest for the people of Maine 
is Jonathan Cilley who was shot in a 
duel with Congressman Graves of Ken- 
tucky in 1S38. This gentleman was 
born in Xottingham, N. H., in 1802, and 
was graduated from Bowdoin college in 
the celebrated class of 1825. Even then 
he was noted for his brilliant talents 
and his oratorical powers marked him 
for a great career. 

Immediately after quitting college 
young Cilley settled in the village of 
Thomaston and began the study of law 
in the office of the late Senator Rug- 
gles. It was but natural that amidst 
such surroundings he should imbibe a 
love for politics, and in a short time he 
became thoroughly identified with the 
Democratic party and its policies. In 
1S29 he was admitted to the Lincoln bar 
and shortly afterward married Mits 
Deborah Prince, daughter of Hon. 
Hezekiah Prince of Thomaslon. He 
then entered actively on the practice of 
his profession and by his superb ability 
soon gained a prominent position both 
as a lawyer and political leader. 



In the latter line Mr. Cilley rose rap- 
idly and soon became a member of the 
legislature. Here he served for Ave 
terms, part of which time he was 
speaker of the house and always its 
leader. By that time his reputation 
was so firmly established that in 1836, 
he received the nomination for Con- 
gress and secured a triumphant elec- 
tion in a district which at that time 
was strongly Whig ire its poMtica! lean- 
ings. The campaign wa-^ed had been a 
bitter one and the glory of his triumph 
was more marked from the fact that 
he was opposed by a powerful section 
of his own party. Scars were made 
that even time could not heal, and in 
one sense his very victory carried with 
it the seeds of a fatal ending. The 
gloom of a dark pitfall lay across 
his path, and even the bri.liancy of his 
triumph was clouded by the prophetic 
presentiment of some untimely fate. In 
speaking of the chaiacter and personal 
peculiarities of Mr. Cilley, at that time 
a college classmate, Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne wrote as follows: 

Hawthorne's Tribute. 

"In private intercourse, Cilley pos- 
sessed a remarkable fascination. It 
was impossible not to regard him with 
the kindliest feelings, because his com- 
panions were intuitively certain of a 
like kindliness on his part. He had a 
power of sympathy which enabled him 
to understand every character and 
hold communion with human nature in 
all its varieties. He never shrank f.om 
the intercourse of man with man; and 
it w-as to his fieedom in this particular 
that he owed much of his popularity. 
In a few words, let us characterize him 
at the outset of life as a young men of 
(luirk and i owerful intellect; endowed 
with sagacity and tact, yet frank and 



^10 



THREE GEXERATIOXS. 



free in his mode of action, ambitious of 
good influence, earnest, active and per- 
severing'; with an elasticity and cheer- 
ful strength of mind which made dif- 
ficulties easy, and the strug-gles with 
them a pleasure. Mingled with the 
amiable qualities which were like sun- 
shine to his friends, there were haisher 
and sterner traits which fitted him to 
make head against an adverse world, 
but it was only at the moment of need 
that the iron framework of his char- 
acter become perceptible. 

"In the summer of 1837, a few months 
after his election to Congress, I met 
Mr. Cilley for the first time since early 
youth, when he had been to me almost 
as an elder brother. The few days 
which I spent in his neighborhood en- 
abled us to renew our former intimacy. 
In his person there was very little 
change, and even that was for the bet- 
ter. He had an impending brow, deep- 
set eyes, and a thin and thoughtful 
countenance, which in his abstracted 
moments seemed to be almost stern. 
In the intercourse of society it was 
brightened with a kindly smile that 
will live in the recollection of all who 
knew him. 

"His manners had not a fastidious 
polish, but were characterized by the 
simplicity of one who had dwelt remote 
from cities, holding free companionship 
with the yeomen of the land. I 
thought him as true a representative 
of the people as ever theory could por- 
tray; his earlier and latter habits of 
life, his feelings, partialities and pre- 
judices were those of the common peo- 
ple; the strong and shrewd sense, 
which constituted so marked a feature 
of his mind was but a higher degree of 
the popular intellect. He loved the peo- 
ple and respected them, and was 
prouder of nothing than of his brother- 



hood with those who had intrusted 
their public interests to his care. His 
continual struggles in the political 
arena had strengthened his bones and 
sinews; opposition had kept him ar- 
dent; while success had cherished the 
generous warmth of his nature and as- 
sisted the growth both of his powers 
and sympathies. I was aware, indeed, 
that his harsher traits had grown 
apace with his milder ones — that he 
possessed iron resolution, indomi:able 
perseverence, and an almost terrible 
energy — but these features had im- 
parted no hardness to his character in 
private intercourse. In the hour of 
public need these strong qualities 
would have shown themselves the most 
prominent ones, and would have en- 
couraged his countrymen to rally 
around him as one of their natural 
leaders." 

Such is the pen portrait of Jonathan 
Cilley that has been given us by one of 
the most brilliant of his contemporaries 
and personal friends. The universal 
verdict even of ihis iio'itical enemies is 
that he was one of the most brilliant 
sons of Maine, and had it not been for 
his untimely end he would have been 
the worthy peer oi the ablest men 
whose records adorn the history of our 
state. In the very be ginning of his na- 
tional fame he was cut down by the 
hand of a man who was no better than 
an assajssin, and all the proud hopes of 
his brilliant future perished. Brief al- 
though his career may have been, his 
name is written high in the temple of 
fame and will long be treasured as one 
of the most brilliant that has added 
glory to our state and nation. 

The following account of the fatal 
duel was written by Hon. Horatio 
King, late postmaster general, in his 
valuable work "Turning on the Light," 



cilley's speech 



11 



which account has been pronounced by 
ex-Governor Hugh J. Anderson as the 
most complete ever written. 

The Fatal Duel, 

A charge of corruption against a 
Senator in Congress, made by "The 
Spy in Washington," Matthew L. 
Davis, correspondent of the New Yorlt 
Courier and Enquirer, was the basis of 
the trouble which led to the fatal ren- 
counter. He was the intimate friend 
and biographer of Aaron Burr, and 
while acting as correspondent at the 
capital, he was excluded, I remember, 
from the ladies' gallery on account of 
alleged gross immorality there. In a 
letter to his paper the charge referred 
to was set forth as follows: 

"The more brief my statement the 
better it will be understoo.1. It is in 
my power, if brought to the bar of 
either house, or before a committee, 
and process allowed me to compel the 
attendance of witnesses, to prove by 
the oath of a respectable and unim- 
peachable citizen, as well as by written 
documentary evidence, that there is at 
least one member of Congress who has 
offered to barter his services and his 
influence with a department or depart- 
ments for a compensation. 'Why, sir,' 
said the applicant for a contract, 'if 
my projiosition has merit, it will be 
received; if it has not, I do not expect 
it will be accepted.' And what do you 
think was the answer of the honorable 
member? I will give it to you in nis 
own emphatic language: 'Merit?' said 
he; 'why, things do not go here by 
merit, but by pulling the light stiings. 
Make it my interest and I will pull the 
strings for you.' " 

The editor of the Courier and En- 
quirer, James Watson Webb, vouched 
for the character and standing of his 



correspondent, and called upon Con- 
gress promptly to initiate the investi- 
gation thus challenged, both as an act 
of justive to itself and the country. 
Whereupon Henry A. Wise, of Vir- 
ginia, offered in the House of Represen- 
tatives, on the 12th of February, a mo- 
tion for a committee of inquiry, em- 
bodying in the preamble of his resolu- 
tion both the above extract 
and the editorial comments there- 
on. The resolution gave rise to 
a wariTi debate, and resulted in 
a determination to biing Mr. Davis be- 
fore the bar of the House. He appear- 
ed accordingly, and, having declared 
that the person alluded to in his letter 
was not a member of the House, he 
was discharged. 

On the 13th of February, John Rug- 
gles. Senator from (Thomaston) Maine, 
addressed a letter to the Washington 
Globe, stating that he had been inform- 
ed that the charge referred to "was a 
blow aimed at him." In explanation, 
he said that a Mr. Jones, of New Jer- 
sey, had applied to him to draw up a 
specification and claim for a patent for 
a trunk-lock. He had consented to do 
it, "as it was a strictly professional 
matter." Subsequently he had agreed 
to take an assignment of one-fourth 
part of the patent for his services; the 
papers were drawn and assented to by 
Jones, but never executed, nor had any 
compensation ever been allowed for his 
services. 

On the l€th of February, at Mr. Rug- 
gles's request, a committee to investi- 
gate the charge against him was ap- 
pointed in the Senate, and he was en- 
tirely exonerated. 

In the debate on Mr. Wise's resolu- 
tion, Mr. Cilley said: 

"As the course proposed to be pursu- 
ed on this occasion was novel and ex- 



12 



^HREE GEXERAtlOMg. 



traordinary, he hoped the House would 
pause before it embarked in this busi- 
ness on such authority as was pro- 
duced. This charge comes from the 
editor of a newspaper, and we all know 
that in a country where the press is 
free, few men can expect to escape 
abuse and charges of a similar descrip- 
tion. Ordinarily, when we are about 
entering upon a business of this kind 
before a magistrate, a conservator of 
the peace, the charges submitted are 
obliged to be made distinctly, clearly, 
andunderthe solemnityof an oath; and 
why should we now depart from this 
well-known and well-settled rule? He 
knew nothing of this editor, but it was 
the same editor who had made grave 
charges against an institution of this 
country (the old United States Bank in 
1831), and afterwards was said to have 
received facilities to the amount of 
fifty-two thousand dollars from the 
same institution and gave it his hearty 
support; he did not think his charges 
were entitled to much credit in an Am- 
erican Congress. If he has charges to 
make, let him make them distinctly 
and not vaguely; let him make them 
under the solemnity of an oath, and 
then it will be quite time enough to 
act. He trusted the House would not 
go into an investigation of thi.<^ kind on 
a mere newspaper statement without 
any proof." 

It was the subject of pointed com- 
ment at the time that, whei^eas, the re' 
marks of Mr. Cilley were published in 
the Globe of the 12th, Mr. Webb waited 
until the 21st of February before de- 
manding an explanation. Therefore, 
the presumption was, and it was dis- 
tinctly charged, that "the offence was 
taken at Washington, the plot arranged 
there, and Mr. Webb sent for, after 
full consultation, and notified that he 



must take offence at Mr. Cilley's re- 
marks. This supposition was the more 
readily credited not only because the 
same imputation against Mr. Webb 
had "been thousands of times made 
on innumerable occasions in Congress" 
without his ever resenting it in any 
such manner, but also from the fact 
that Mr. Cilley's ability and fearless 
bearing in debate had aroused a deter- 
mination on the part of certain South- 
ern gentlemen, if possible, to intimi- 
date him and destroy his influence. As 
an illustration of this feeling the fol- 
lowing extract from the Democratic 
Review is in point. Referring to the 
discussion upon Mr. Wise's resolution, 
above mentioned, the editor, J. L. 
O'Sullivan, afterwards United States 
minister to Portugal, and who. I am 
glad to know, still survives, said: 

"An altercation of a very acrimoni- 
ous character on the part of Mr. Wise 
arose upon this occasion. In reply to 
Mr. Cilley, Mr. Wise, among general 
remarks upon the opposition of the 
friends of the administration to all in- 
vestigation without specific charges, 
etc., remarked, 'Every man careful of 
his honor, when such charges as these 
are made, will not wait to have them 
specifically framed,' and in the present 
instance he would say to the gentle- 
man from Maine that a member of the 
party (Democratic) to which that gen- 
tleman belongs should be the last man 
to oppose the investigation of a charge 
like this, for it was much more likely 
to be him that was meant by the au- 
thor of the charge than himself (Mr. 
W.). 'I, sir," said Mr. Wi.'se, 'have no 
influence with the executive or any of 
its branches, to sell for a price,' " etc. 
Afterwards, in the course of the de- 
bate, the following altercation took 
place, as we find it reported in the In- 
telligencer: 



THE DEBATE 



13 



" 'But now, because he (Mr. C.) had 
stood up to defend the character of 
the House against that anonymous 
imputation, he was to hear the basest 
charges against himself. 

" 'Mr. Wise here asked if the gentle- 
man from Maine meant to say that he 
(Mr. W.) had made base charges in re- 
lation to himself? 

" 'Mr. Cilley would explain. He did 
feel that it was ungenerous for that 
gentleman to have said that the pre- 
sumption was rather it was he (Mr. 
C.) than himself (Mr. W.) to whom 
this charge alluded. 

" 'Mr. Wise had made no personal 
charge against the member from 
Maine, false or true, none whatever; 
and he again asked that gentleman if 
he meant to say that he had insin- 
uated base charges against him. 

" 'Mr. Cilley responded in substance 
what he had said. 

" 'Mr. Wise. Then the gentleman 
from Maine designs deliberately to in- 
sult me. 

" 'Mr. Cilley certainly did not; he ' 
had not made any charge against the 
gentleman from Virginia. He knew 
his rights and those of his constituents 
on that floor. 

" 'Mr. Wise understood, and did not 
understand the gentleman from Maine 
as disclaiming the charge, that he had 
made base charges against that gen- 
tleman. 

"'Mr. Cilley said that he had dis- 
tinctly remarked that the gentleman 
from Virginia had said he (Mr. C ) 
was more obnoxious to the charge con- 
tained in the resolution before the 
House than he (Mr. W.) was; and he 
could say no less than he had said, 
fearless of all consequences, but he 
had no intention to insult any one. The 



gentleman from Virginia just remark- 
ed that he had been informed of the 
name of the member alluded to; why 
not disclose it? 

" 'Mr. Wise roi=e and said that he 
could never again treat that gentle- 
man with confidence who could ris? in 
his place and repeat to the House 
what a member had said in private 
conversation in his seat. 

" 'Mr. Cilley had not intended to vio- 
late confidence. The gentleman from 
Virginia had said openly in his seat 
that he knew the name of the member 
meant. 

" 'Mr. Wise. But it was in reply to 
an express question of another mem- 
ber. 

" 'Some further explanation thsn 
took place between Mr. Cilley and Mr. 
Wise,' etc. 

"The rerort of it is here cut off. Mr. 
Cilley sustained himself with perfect 
firmness and dignity to the end, his 
manner being, according to our infor- 
mation, in highly advantageous con- 
trast with that of his assailant. The 
latter concluded by the following re- 
mark, spoken so openly and loud as to 
be heard at some distance, a remark 
which Mr. Cilley never affected .o no- 
tice or to hear: 'But what is the use 
of bandying words with a man who 
won't hold himself personally account- 
able for his words?' " 

Fully to appreciate this scene, one 
needs to have known its principal act- 
ors and observed the calm, firm, aru 
dignified manner of Cilley In contrast 
with the fierce look and aggressive 
bearing of his opponent, as the writer 
more than once saw him in debate in 
the House during the winter of 18?!S- 
39, while Graves, looking sad and de- 
sponding, was also still a niemb^" of 
that body. 



14 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



We will next present the correspond- 
ence, etc., as it appeared in a paper 
signed by the seconds in the duel, 
George W. Jones, of Iowa, and Henry 
A. Wise, of Virginia, which they pub- 
lished as their 

"STATEMENT. 

"Washington City, D. C, Feb. 26, 1S38 
"The following is a statement of the 
facts of the duel between the Honor- 
able William J. Graves, of Kentucky, 
and the Honorable Jonathan Cilley, of 
Maine, agreed upon by George W. 
Jones and Henry A. Wise, the seconds 
of the parties, committed to writing 
between the hours of 10.30 o'clock a. m., 
February 25th, and 12 o'clock m. this 
day. The seconds propose, first, to 
state the correspondence which oc- 
curred before the challense and which 
was communicated ih;oiigh others than 
themselves, neither second having 
borne any message, verbal or written, 
to or from either of the principals, un- 
til Mr. Wise bore the challenge and 
Mr. Jones bore the acceptance. This 
correspondence, as it has been placed 
in the hands of the seconds, is as fol- 
lows, to wit: 

"Mr. Graves to Mr. Cilley. 

"House of Representatives. February 
21, 1838.— In the interview which I had 
with you this morning, when you de- 
clined receiving from me the note of 
Colonel J. W". Webb, asking whether 
you were correctly reported in the 
Globe In what you are there represent- 
ed to have said of him in this House 
upon the 12th instant, you will please 
say whether you did not remark, in 
substance, that in declining to receive 
the note, you hoped I would not con- 
sider it in any respect disrespectful to 
me, and that the ground on which you 



rested your declining to receive the 
note was distinctly this: That you 
could not consent to get yourself into 
personal difficulties with conductors of 
public journals for what you might 
think proper to say in debate upon this 
floor, in discharge of your duties as a 
representative of the people, and that 
you did not rest your objection in our 
interview upon any personal objection 
to Colonel Webb as a gentleman. Very 
respectfully your obedient servant, 

"W. J. Graves. 

"Honorable Jonathan Cilley. 

"Mr. Cilley to Mr. Graves. 

"House of Representatives, February 

21, 1838.— The note which you just 
placed in my hands has been received. 
In reply I have to state that in your 
interview with me this morning, when 
you proposed to deliver a communica- 
tion from Colonel Webb, of the New 
York Courier and Enquirer, I declined 
to receive it because I chose to be 
drawn into no controversy with him. I 
neither affirmed nor denied anything in 
regard to his character; but when you 
remarked that this course on my part 
might place you in an unpleasant 
Fituation, I stated to you, and now re- 
peat, that I intended by the refusal no 
disrespect to you. Very respectfully, 
your obedient servant, 

"Jona. Cilley. 

"Honorable W. J. Graves. 

"Mr. Graves to Mr. Cilley. 

"House of Representatives, February 

22, 1838.— Sir,— Tour note of yesterday, 
in reply to mins of that date, is inex- 
plicit, unsatisfactory, and insufficient; 
among other things in this, that in 



LETTERS 



15 



your declining' to receive Colonel 
Webb's communication, it does not dis- 
claim any exception to him personally 
as a gentleman. I have therefore to in- 
quire whether you declined to receive 
his communication on the ground of 
any personal exception to him as a 
gentleman or a man of honor? A 
categorical answer is expected. Very 
respectfully, 

"William J. Graves. 

"Honorable J. Cilley. 

'^r. Cilley to Mr. Graves. 

"House of Representatives, February 
22, 1838.— Sir.— Tour note of this date 
has just been placed in my hands. I 
regret that mine of yesterday was not 
satisfactory to you, but I cannot admit 
the right on your part to propound the 
question to which you ask a categorical 
answer, and therefore decline any fur- 
ther response to it. Very respect- 
fully, 

"Jonathan Cilley. 

"Honorable W. J. Graves. 

"Here follows the first paper borne 
by Mr. Wise: 

"As you have declined accepting a 
communication which I bore to you 
from Colonel Webb, and as, by your 
note of yesterday, you have refused to 
decline on grounds which would exon- 
erate me from all responsibility grow- 
ing out of the affair, I am left no other 
alternative but to ask that satisfaction 
■which is recognized among gentlemen. 
My friend, Honorable Henry A. Wise, 
is authorized by me to make the ar- 
rangements suitable for the occasion. 
Your obedient servant, 

"W. J. Graves. 

"Honorable J. Cilley. 

"Mr. Wise states that he presented 



the foregoing challenge to Mr. Cilley in 
the parlor at Mr. Birth's boarding- 
house a few minutes before twelve 
o'clock, on Friday, the twenty-third 
instant. 

"In addition to the foregoing corre- 
spondence the seconds propose to re- 
late only such facts and circumstances 
as occurred within their joint knowl- 
edge, after their ow^n participation in 
the melancholy affair. 

"On the evening of the twenty-third 
instant, about the hour of five o'clock, 
Mr. Jones, the second of Mr. Cilley, de- 
livered to Mr. Graves in the room of 
Mr. Wise, and in his presence, the fol- 
lowing note, which was the first paper 
borne by Mr. Jones, to wit: 

"Washington City February 23, 1838.— 
Honorable W. J. Graves: Your note of 
this morning has been received. My 
friend. General Jones, will 'make the 
arrangements suitable to the occasion.' 
Your obedient servant, 

"Jona. Cilley. 

"Immediately upon the preparation 
of the acceptance of the challenge, Mr. 
Graves retired, leaving Mr. Jones iwith 
Mr. "V\''ise, who submitted to Mr. Wise 
the following propositions for the ar- 
rangement of the meeting, to wit: 

"Washington City, February 23, 1838. 
—Sir: Mr. Cilley proposes to meet Mr. 
Graves at such place as may be agreed 
upon between us to-morrow at twelve 
o'clock m. The weapons to be used on 
the occasion shall be rifles; the parties 
placed side to side at eighty yards dis- 
tance from each other; to hold the 
rifles horizontally at arm's length 
downward; the rifles to be cocked and 
triggers set; the word to be, 'Gentle- 
men, are you ready?' after which, 
neither answering 'no,' the words shall 
be in regular succession, 'Fire, one, 
two, three, four.' Neither party shall 



16 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



fire before the word 'fire,' nor after the 
word 'four.' The positions of the par- 
ties at the ends of the line to be deter- 
mined by lot. The second of the party 
losing- the position shall have the giv- 
ing- of the word. The dress to be ordi- 
nary winter clothing and subject to the 
examination of both parties. Eaeh 
party may have on the ground, besides 
his second, a surgeon and two other 
friends. The seconds, for the execution 
of their respective trusts, are allowed 
to have a pair of pistols each on the 
ground, but no other persons shall 
have any weapon. The rifles to be 
loaded in the presence of the seconds. 
Should Mr. Graves not be able to pro- 
cure a rifle in the time prescribed, time 
shall be allowed for that purpose. 
Your very obedient servant, 

"George W. Jones. 

"Honorable Henry A. Wise. 

"About nine o'clock p. m., at Mr. 
Jones's room at Dawson's, Mr. Wise 
returned to him the following answer, 
to wit: 

"Washington City, February 23, 1838. 
— Sir: The terms arranging the meet- 
ing between Mr. Graves and Mr. Cil- 
ley, which you presented to me this 
evening, though unusual and objec- 
tionable, are accepted with the under- 
standing that the rifles are to be load- 
ed with a single ball, and that neither 
party is to raise his weapon from the 
downward horizontal position until the 
word 'tire.' I will inform you, sir, by 
the hour of eleven o'clock a. m. to- 
morrow whether Mr. Graves has been 
able to procure a rifle, and, consequent- 
ly, whether he will require a postpone- 
ment of the time of meeting. Your 
very obedient servant, 

"Henry A. Wise. 

"Honorable George W. Jones. 



"About eight o'clock a. m. on the 
twenty-fourth instant, Mr. Jones left 
at Mr. Wise's room the following note, 
to wit: 

"Washington City, February 24. 1838. 
— Sir: I will receive at Dr. Reillys, on 
F Street, any communication you may 
see proper to make me until eleven 
o'clock a. m., to-day. Respectfully, 
your obedient servant, 

"George W. Jones. 

"Honorable H. A. W^se. 

"Dr. Reilly's, F Street, February 24, 
1838. 10 a. m.— Sir: I have called at 
this place in conformity to your note 
of this morning, to inform you that Mr. 
Graves has not as yet been able to pro- 
cure a rifle and put it in order, and 
cannot be ready by twelve o'clock m. 
to-day. He is desirous, however, to 
have the meeting to-day, if possible, 
and I will inform you by half-past 
twelve o'clock m. to-day what time he 
will require to procure and prepare a 
weapon. Aery respectfully, etc., 

"Henry A. Wise. 

"Honorable George W. Jones. 

"Afterwards Mr. Jones left at Mr. 
Wise's room the following note, to 
'Wit: 

"Washington, 10.30 a. m., February 
24, 1838.— Sir: Your note, dated at ten 
o'clock to-day, is received. In reply I 
have the pleasure to inform you that I 
have in my possession an excellent 
rifle, in good order, which is at the 
.'^ervice of Mr. Graves. Very respect- 
fully, etc., 

"George W. Jones. 

"Honorable H. A. Wise. 

"Afterwards Mr. Jones sent to Mr. 
Wise's room the following note, to wit: 



LETTERS 



17 



"Washington, February 24, 1S3S, 11 a. 
m. — Sir: Through the politeness of my 
friend Dr. Duncan, I now tender to 
you, for the use of Mr. Graves, the 
rifle referred to in my note of ten 
o'clock this morning. Respectfully. 
your obedient servant, 

"George W. Jones. 

"Honorable H. A. Wise. 

"And with this note a rifle and pow- 
der-flask and balls were left at Mr. 
Wise's room. After the reception of 
this note from Mr. Jones, Mr. Wise 
called on him at Dr. Reilly's and in- 
formed Mr. Jones that Mr. Graves had 
procured a rifle other than that left at 
his room by Dr. Duncan, and would be 
ready for the meeting at three o'clock 
p. m. It was then agreed that the 
parties should meet at the Anacostia 
bridge, on the road to Marlborough, 
Maryland, between the hours of half- 
past one and half-past two o'clock p. 
m., and if either got there first he 
should wait for the other, and that 
they would thence proceed out of the 
District. Accordingly the parties met 
at the bridge, Mr. Cilley and his party 
arriving there first, and all proceeded, 
about two o'clock p. m., to the place of 
meeting. On arriving at the place, Mr. 
Jones and ilr. "Wise immediately pro- 
ceeded to mark off the ground. They 
then decided the choice of positions. 
Mr. Wise won the position, and con- 
sequently Mr. Jones had the giving of 
the word. At the time Mr. Jones was 
informed by Mr. Wise that two gentle- 
men (Mr. Calhoun, of Kentucky, and 
Mr. Hawes, of Kentucky) were at 
some distance off, spectators, but they 
should not approach upon the ground. 
Mr. Jones replied that he objected to 
their coming on the ground, as it was 
against the articles of the meeting, but 
he entertained for them the highest re- 



spect. Mr. Wise informed Mr. Jones 
that, contrary to the terms, he had 
brought on the ground two rifles; that 
if he (Mr. Jones) required him to do 
so, he would immediately send one of 
them away. Upon Mr. Jones finding 
that the rifle was unloaded, he con- 
sented that it should remain in one of 
the carriages. There were, it is proper 
to remark, several persons on the 
ground (besides the hack-drivers and 
the two gentlemen at a distance be- 
fore mentioned) who were there with- 
out the authority or consent of either 
party or their friends, as far as is 
known either to Mr. Jones or Mr. Wise, 
and one of these persons was supposed 
to be the owner of the field. Shortly 
after the hour of three p. m. the rifles 
were loaded in the presence of the sec- 
onds; the parties were called together; 
they were fully instructed by Mr. 
Jones as to their positions, and the 
words were twice repeated to them as 
they would be and as they were de- 
livered to them in the exchange of 
shots. After they were ordered to their 
respective positions, the seconds as- 
sumed their places, and the friends ac- 
companying the seconds were disposed 
along the line of fire to observe that 
each obeyed the terms of meeting. Mr. 
Jones gave the word distinctly, audi- 
bly, and in regular succession, and the 
parties exchanged shots without vio- 
lating in the least a single instruction. 
They both missed. After which Mr. 
Wise called upon the friends generally 
to assemble and hear what was to be 
said. Upon the assembling of the 
friends, Mr. Jones inquired of Mr. 
Wise whether his friend (Mr. Graves) 
wais satisfied. Mr. Wise immediately 
said in substance, 'Mr. Jones, these 
gentlemen have come here without 
animosity towards each other; they 
are fighting merely upon a point of 



18 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



honor; cannot Mr. Cilley assign some 
reason for not receiving at Mr. 
Graves's hands Colonel "Webb's com- 
munication, or make some disclaimer 
which will relieve Mr. Graves from his 
position?' Mr. Jones replied, in sub- 
stance, '"^Tiilst the challenge is im- 
pending, Mr. Cilley can make no ex- 
planation.' Mr. Wise said, in sub- 
stance, 'The exchange of shots sus- 
pends the challenge, and the challenge 
is suspended for the purpose of ex- 
planation.' Mr. Jones therefore said 
he would see Mr. Cilley, and did go to 
him. He returned and asked Mr. 'Wise 
again, 'Mr. Wise, do I understand 
aright that the challenge is suspend- 
ed?' Mr. Wise answered, 'It is.' Mr. 
Jones was then about to proceed, when 
Mr. W^ise suggested that it was best, 
perhaps, to gi^■e the explanation or 
reason in writing. Mr. Jones then 
said, in substance, 'Mr. Wise, if you 
require me to put what I have to say 
in writing, I shall require you to put 
what you have said and may say in 
writing.' Mr. Wise replied, 'Well. let 
us hear the explanation beforehand, a.s 
it may not be necessary to put it in 
writing.' Mr. Jones then proceeded, as 
he now thinks, substantially to say. 'I 
am authorized by my friend, Mr. Cil- 
ley, to say that, in declining to receive 
the note from Mr. Graves, purporting 
to be from Colonel Webb, he meant no 
disrespect to Mr. Graves, because he 
entertained for him then, as he now 
does, the most kind feelings; but that 
he declined to receive the note because 
he chose not to be drawn into contro- 
versy with Colonel Webb.' Mr. Wise 
thinks this ans'wer of Mr. Jones's was, 
in substance, as'follows: 'I am author- 
ized by my friends, Mr. Cilley, to say 
that, in declining to receive the note 
from Mr. Graves purporting to be from 
Colonel Webb, he meant no disrespect 



to Mr. Graves, because he entertained 
for him then, as he dees now, the hi.^h- 
est respect and most kind feelings, but 
my friend refuses to disclaim disre- 
spect for Colonel Webb, because he 
does not choose to be drawn into an 
expression of opinion as to him.' Such 
is the substantial difference between 
the two seconds as to the answer of 
Mr. Jones. The friends on each side, 
with the seconds, then retired from 
each other to consult upon this expla- 
nation. After consultation, Mr. Wise 
returned to Mr. Jones and said, 
'Mr. Jones, this answer leaves Mr. 
Graves precisely in the position in 
which he stood when the challenge 
was sent.' Much conversation then 
ensued between the seconds and their 
friends, but, no nearer approach to 
reconciliation being made, the chal- 
lenge was renewed and another shot 
was exchanged in a manner perfectly 
fair and honorable to all parties. 
After this the seconds and their 
friends again assembled and the chal- 
lenge was again withdrawn and very 
similar conversations to that after the 
first exchange of shots again ensued. 
Mr. Jones then remarked, 'Mr. Wise, 
my friend, in coming to the ground 
and exchanging shots with Mr. Graves, 
has shown to the world that in de- 
clining to receive the note of Colonel 
Webb he did not do so because he 
dreaded a controversy. He has shown 
himself a brave man. and disposed to 
render satisfaction to Mr. Graves. I 
do think he has done so, and that the 
matter should end here.' To this Mr. 
Wise replied, in substance, 'Mr. Jones, 
Mr. Cilley has already expressed his 
respect for Mr. Graves in the written 
correspondence, and Mr. Graves does 
not require of Mr. Cilley a certificate 
of character for Colonel Webb; he con- 
siders himsself bound not only to pre- 



LETTERS 



19 



serve the respect due to himself, but. to 
defend the honor of his friend, Colonel 
Webb.' These words of Mr. Wise Mr. 
Jones recollects, and Mr. Wise thinks 
he added the words, 'Mr. Graves only 
insists that he has not borne the note 
of a man who is not a man of honor 
and not a gentleman.' After much 
more conversation and ineffectual at- 
tempts to adjust the matter, the chal- 
lenge was again renewed, and, whilst 
the friends were again loading the 
rifles for the third exchange of shots, 
Mr. Jones and Mr. Wise walked apart, 
and each proposed to the other anx- 
iously to settle the affair. Mr. Wise 
asked Mr. Jones 'if Mr. Cilley could not 
assign the reason for declining to re- 
ceive the note of Colonel Webb, that he 
did not hold himself accountable to 
Colonel Webb for words spoken in de- 
bate?' Mr. Jones replied, that 'Mr. 
Cilley would not assign that reason, 
because he did not wish to be under- 
stood as expressing the opinion wheth- 
er he wais or was not accountable for 
wordis spoken in debate.' Mr. Wise 
then, according to recollection, asked 
Mr. Jones whether Mr. Cilley would 
not say that 'in declining to receive the 
note of Colonel Webb he meant no dis- 
respect to Mr. Graves, directly or indi- 
rectly?' To which Mr. Jones replied 
affirmatively, adding, 'Mr. Cilley enter- 
tains the highest respect for Mr. 
Graves, but decline® to receive the 
note because he chose to be drawn into 
no controversy with Colonel Webb.' 
After further explanatory conversation 
the parties then exchanged the third 
shot, fairly and honorably a>s in every 
instance. Immediately previous to the 
last exchange of shots Mr. Wise said 
to Mr. Jones, 'If this matter is not ter- 
minated this shot, and is not settled, I 
will propose to shorten the distance.' 
To which Mr. Jones replied, 'After this 



shot, if without effect, I will entertain 
the proposition.' 

"After Mr. Cilley fell, Mr. Wise, for 
Mr. Graves, expressed a desire to Mr. 
Jones to see Mr. Cilley. Mr. Jones re- 
plied to Mr. Wise, 'My friend is dead,' 
and went on to Mr. Graves and told 
him that there was no objection to his 
request to see Mr. Cilley. When Mr. 
Jones approached Mr. Graves and in- 
formed him that his requent should be 
granted. Mr. Graves inquired. 'How is 
he?' The reply was, 'My friend is dead, 
sir.' Mr. Graves then went to his car- 
riage. Mr. "Wise inquired of Mr. Jones 
before leaving the ground whether he 
could render any service, and tendered 
all the aid in his power. Mr. Wise and 
Mr. Jones concur that there were three 
shots exchanged. 

"Such is the naked statement of all 
the material facts and circumstances 
attending this unfortunate affair of 
honor, which we make in justice to our 
friends, to ourselves, and to all con- 
cerned, the living and the dead; and it 
is made only for the purpose of allay- 
ing excitement in the public mind, and 
to prevent any and all further contro- 
versy upon the subject, which already 
is full enough of woe. We have fully 
and substantially staled wherein we 
agree and disagree. We cordially agree, 
at all events, in bearing unqualified 
testimony to the fair and honorable 
manner in which the duel was con- 
ducted. We endeavored to discharge 
our duties according to that code under 
which the parties met, regulated by 
magnanimous principles and the laws 
of humanity. Neither of us has taken 
the least exception to the course of the 
other; and we sincerely hope that here 
all controversy whatever may cease. 
We especially desire our respective 
friend's to make no publication on the 
subject. None can regret the termina- 



20 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



tion of the affair more than ourselves, 
and we hope again that the last of it 
will be the signatures of our names to 
this paper, which we now afRx. 

"George W. Jones. 

"Henry A. Wise." 

Vain hope! Instead of this being 
"the last of the affair," the supposed 
instigators of it were met on all sides 
with a perfect storm of indignation, 
and an almost universal demand for a 
searching investigation of the matter 
and punishment of the guilty; and the 
more the circumstances of the tragedy 
became known the fiercer the cry for 
retribution. Before proceeding. Ix^w- 
ever, to depict this feeling, I will intio- 
duce the sworn statement of William 
H. Morrell and Daniel Jackson, two 
chosen friends of Colonel V\'ebb, who, 
according to their te?timony, "said that 
it was utterly impossible that a meet- 
ing could be permitted to take place 
between Messrs. Graves and Cilley un- 
til Mr. Cilley had first met him (Webb). 
and that he was determined to force 
such a meeting upon Mr. Cilley, be the 
consequences what they mi-;ht." It wajs 
accordingly agreed that Col. Webb, 
with two friends "properly armed, 
should repair to Mr. Cilley's room, 
vhen Mr. Webb should offer to 
Mr. Cilley the choice of his duelling 
plfitols with the following alter- 
natives: either then and there to set- 
tle the question or pledge his word of 
honor that he would give Colonel Webb 
a meeting before Mr. Graves at such 
a placp and time and with such weap- 
iis as Mr. Cilley might appoint; and 
In the event of doing neither, then to 
expect the most serious consequences 
un the spot. Mr. Webb then added: 
"Should he refuse either to fight me at 
the time, or give the pledge required, I 
shall have no alternative left but to 



shatter his right arm and thereby pre- 
vent his meeting my friend." Before 
this plan could be carried out, it was 
found that Mr. Cilley had left his lodg- 
ings for the duelling ground, under- 
stood to be Bladensburg, to which 
place Colonel Webb and his two friends 
immediately repaired. On their way. 
Colonel Webb designated the following 
order of proceedings: 

" 'On reaching the parties,' said he, 
'I'll approach Mr. Cilley and tell him 
this is my quarrel and he must fight 
me. and that, if he aims his rifle at my 
friend, I'll shoot him on the spot. We 
know that, upon this, Messrs. Graves 
and Wise will interfere, and that we 
will be ordered off the ground; but I 
shall tell them that we have come 
prepared to lose our lives or prevent 
the meeting, and that it cannot proceed 
without first disposing of us. Prom 
our knowledge of the parties, it is prob- 
able that some one of them will then 
raise his weapon at me, when I shall 
instantly shoot Cilley, and we must 
proceed to defend ourselves in the best 
way we can.' " 

After stating that they drove to the 
usual duelling ground and several other 
places without being able to find the 
parties, the witnesses say: "It is un- 
necessary to add what would have been 
the course of Colonel Webb if Mr. 
Graves, Instead of Mr. Cilley, had been 
Injured. SuflRce it to say that his de- 
termination was sanctioned by us, and, 
however much we deplore it, we could 
not doubt but the extraordinary posi- 
tion in which he would then have been 
placed would have warranted the 
course determined upon." 

Alluding to the dark intimation in 
the last paragraph, an able editor, at 
the time holding a high position under 
the United States government, remark- 
ed, "Thus, then, it seems if Cilley had 



DEATH OF CILLEY 



21 



Escaped from the field with his life, he 
would have been doubtless, assassinat- 
ed by Webb and his associates." 

Colonel Schaumbourg, a friend of Mr. 
Cilley, states that before the meeting-, 
Mr. Cilley said to him: 

"Mr. Graves has taken upon himself 
to demand of me to say, and that in 
language dictated by himself, that 
James Watson Webb is a gentleman 
and a man of honor. Now, that is whai 
I am not going to disgrace myself by 
saying-. I see into the whole affair. 
Webb has come on here to challenge 
me because he and perhaps others 
think that, as I am from New Eng- 
land, I am to be bluffed, and Mr. Webb 
will proclaim himself a brave man. 
and having obtained acknowledgment 
on my part that he is a gentleman and 
a man of honor. But they have calcu- 
lated without their host. Although I 
know that the sentiment of New Eng- 
land is opposed to duelling, I am sure 
that my people will be better pleased if 
I stand the test than disgrace myself 
by humiliating concessions. Sir, the 
name I bear will never permit me to 
cower beneath the frown of mortal 
man. It is an attempt to browbeat us. 
and they think that because I am from 
the East, I will tamely submit." 

Besides the two seconds, the friends 
of each party on the ground were, on 
the part of Mr. Cilley, Jesse A. Bynum, 
member of Congress from North Caro- 
lina, Colonel W. Schaumbourg, of 
Pennsylvania, and Alexander Duncan 
(surgeon.) member of Congress from 
Ohio; and, on the part of Mr. Graves, 
John J. Crittenden, Senator, and Rich- 
ard H. Menifee, member of Congress 
from Kentucky, and Dr. J. M. Foltz, 
surgeon, of Washington City. These 
gentlemen were quite as free from cen- 
sure in the affair as were some others 
not present. The greater weight of 



"public opprobrium and disgust" fell 
upon Mr. Wise and Colonel Webb, as 
will appear from quotations we will 
see from the public records and the 
press. 

Mr. Cilley's death was announced in 
the House of Representatives on the 
26th of February by the Hon. John 
Fairfield, of Maine, and in the Senate, 
the same day, by the Hon. Reuel Wil- 
liams, of Maine, and appropriate reso- 
lutions provided for the appointment 
of a committee of seven members to in- 
vestigate the causes which led to Mr. 
Cilley's death and the circumstances 
connected therewith; also to inquire 
whether, in the matter, there had 
been any breach of the privileges of 
the House. The resolutions, after con- 
siderable opposition, were passed by 
yeas one hundred and fifty-two, nays 
forty-nine, and this committee was 
composed of the following gentlemen: 
Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, W. W. 
Potter, of Pennsylvania, George Grin- 
nell, Jr., of Massachusetts, F. H. El- 
more, of South Carolina, A. D. W. 
Bruyn, of New York, S. Grantland, of 
Georgia, and J. Rajiden, of Indiana. 
The committee were divided in opinion 
and made three repoits, Mr. Toucey, 
afterward Senator and member of both 
President Polk's and President Buch- 
anan's Cabinet, presenting that of the 
majority. It embraces the material 
facts and circumstances of the duel, and 
among other things, declares that "It 
is a breach of the highest constitutional 
privileges of the House, and of the most 
sacred rights of the people in the per- 
son of their repiesentative, to demand 
in a hostile manner an explanation of 
words spoke in debate." 

The committee submitted resolutions 
for the expul.-ion of William J. Graves, 
Henry A. Wise, and George W. Jones. 
Finally, after a long debate, the whole 



22 



tHREE GENERATIONS. 



subject was laid on the table by a vote 
of one hundred and two to seventy- 
six, a vote of censure merely being 
passed. 

Hig-h as party feeling was at the time, 
indignation' and denunciation were by 
no means confined to one side in poli- 
tics. "Never," said Charles G. Green, 
editor of the Boston Post "was there a 
more dastardly murder than that of the 
unfortunate Cilley. The nation should 
echo with indignation at this hor: ib'e 
outrage, this cold-blooded assassina- 
tion." Naming two of the principal ac- 
tors (Webb and Wise) in the affair, the 
same editor calls the one "the mi?er- 
able poltroon," and the other "the 
wretch," adding, "both of them are 
equally a disgrace to human nature, 
and will deceive the execration of man- 
kind; we hope that the penitentiary or 
the gallows will soon relieve society of 
their baneful presence." A Washing- 
ton correspondent of the Journal of 
Commerce is quoted as saying that, 
"After Jones returned the last time, 
from the conference, with Wi.-e's reply, 
Mr. Cilley said, in a calm and collected 
tone, 'They thirst for my blood!' " In 
a previous conference, as repo'ted by 
the seconds, Mr. Cilley said that "in 
decliningr to receive the note from 
Colonel Webb, he meant no disrespect 
to Mr. Graves, because he entertained 
for him then, as he now does, the high- 
est respect and most kind feelings." 
"But," as remarked by the Democratic 
Review, published by I^angtree and 
O'Sullivan, at the time, "all this was 
without avail." 

Mr. Cilley fought under disadvan- 
tages which (says the Journal of Com- 
merce) must have been well known to 
those on the other side, and which in- 
duced some persons to say that his 
seconds ought never to have suffered 
him to fight under them at all. These 



disadvantages were stated to be that 
Mr. Cilley, being, as was personally 
known to the present writer, very near- 
sighted, could not see to shoot at the 
distance measured off, which was al- 
leged to be greater by twenty yaids 
than that agreed on; that his rifie was 
so light— only about one-half the cali- 
bre of that of his antagonist— that it 
would not carry that distance with ac- 
curacy; that he was shooting against 
the wind, which was blowing a gale; 
and that he stood on rising ground in 
open light, presenting a plain mark, 
while his antagonist was shaded by a 
copse of wood. Under all the.se disad- 
vantages, after disclaiming all enmity 
to Graves, and after technical requsi- 
tion prelim.inary to accommodation in 
honorable duelling, and even after he 
had declared that he did not wish to 
take Graves's life, but entertained for 
him "the highest respect and the most 
kisd feelings," Mr. Cilley was shot 
down! "What," asked the Eastern 
Argus, "does this prove but that he 
was foully murdered?" 

At a great public meeting, held at the 
capital of Maine, on the 9th of March, 
1838, "for the purpose of noticing in a 
suitable manner the atrocious murder 
of Hon. Jonathan Cilley," a series of 
resolutions were unanimously alopted, 
declaring, among other things, that the 
duel was "the result of a foul con- 
spiracy, concerted and approved 
among a few political leaders, to take 
advantage of Mr. Cilley and draw him 
into a quarrel, in order that they 
might seize upon the opportunity af- 
forded to gratify personal feelings of 
private malice and revenge, and re- 
move out of the way an opponent 
every day becoming more and more 
formidable, whose eloquent appeals 
and retorted sarcasms it would be 
more easy to silence by the pistol than 



COURSE OF HENRY A. WISE 



23 



ahswei- in debate; that in the course 
pursued by Henry A. Wise in man- 
ag-ing- and conducting the incidents of 
the duel after the first fire, there is 
evidence of deep and vindictive mal- 
ignity; and that he stands justly 
chargeable before the world, upon his 
own showing, of having \iolated e\ ery 
recognized principle of chivalry by 
availing himself of his position and the 
occasion to glut his own feol-ngs of 
private grudge and ill-will against Mr. 
Cilley for a former supposed offense 
given by the deceased, not to his prin- 
cipal, Graves, but to himself. Wise, a 
course of conduct worthy only of a re- 
creant and a dastard; that the studied 
attempt made by Henry A. Wise to 
palliate and gloss over his conduct 
during the duel, apparent in the im- 
perfect but official account, so called, 
of the doings, and the special desire 
expressed in the account, that those 
who witnessed the scene should make 
no publication on the subject, afford 
strong presumptive evidence of a con- 
sciousness that there were deeds of 
darkness and treachery in the history 
of the conflict which would not bear to 
be told; while, on the other hand, the 
careful insertion in that account of a 
statement that Mr. Wise inquired of 
Mr. Jones, before leaving the ground, 
'whether he could render any service, 
and tendered all the aid in his power,' 
the murder 'having been already perpe- 
trated, and the lifeless corpse of Mr. 
Cilley then lying stretched out before 
him, is a derision and a mockery upon 
the better feelings of our nature, 
worthy only of the man who could 
coolly triumph over the fallen victim 
of his own foul machinations; and 
that in the transaction which termin- 
ated in the death of Mr. Cilley, con- 
sidered under the mildest and most 
mitigated features given to it by those 



who took part in it, there is presented 
to the people of Maine a case of ruth- 
less a^sassinatii.n — of preconcerted and 
cold-blooded murder of one of their 
representatives, for having boldly and 
fearlessly done his duty, and being re- 
solved to continue to do so." 

The editor of the Democratic Review, 
in a position to obtain the most correct 
information on the subject, was very 
severe in his comments upon the whole 
affair, and particularly with reference 
to Wise's course in insisting, after the 
second shot, either that Mr. Cilley 
should "acknowledge Webb to be a 
gentleman and a man of honor," or 
that "blood should flow!" 

"It is not enough that he (Mr. Cilley) 
has said nothing to the disparagement 
of Mr. Webb — that he is free in expres- 
sion of the highest respect and best 
feeling toward Graves; it is not enough 
that two shots have been interchanged 
on this flimsy punctilio of honor, in the 
language of one of the gentlemen on 
the field, in his remonstrance, 'based 
on an abstraction and assumed upon 
an implication:' it is not enough that 
all persons on the ground — the second, 
the surgeon, and consulting friends of 
the challenged party, the surgeon and 
one at least of the friends of the chal- 
lenging side (Mr. Crittenden) — are 
unanimous in opinion that all has been 
done that the most fastidious honor 
can require; it is not enough that he 
(Wise) 'has put a distinct propo?ition, 
in decisive terms, as if an ultimatum, 
fiom an anxiety to bring an end to the 
combat, that acknowledgment shall be 
made that no disrespect was meant to 
Mr. Graves, directly or indirectly, and 
that it was, in terms, answered afflrm- 
atively: nothing whatever will suffice 
but a degrading acknowledgment con- 
trary to the conscience and truth of the 
party, and to the well-known majority 



24 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



of society, and entirely extraneous to 
the relation between the parties in the 
field — an acknowledgment which noth- 
ing' but a trembling cowardice, widely 
unlike the brave bearing of poor Cilley, 
could yield under such circumstances — 
an acknowledgment which he knew, 
and could not but have known, could 
not and would not be conceded. No, 
nothing will suffice but this abject and 
impossible submission — or blood! Thv 
spirit of malignant evil that ruled th-^ 
ascendant of that dark hour triumphed, 
and the kind-hearted, the generous, the 
peaceful, the mar.ly, the noble, ihe 
true, the brave, lay welterin.j in his 
own blood!" 

The following, says the editor of the 
Review, are substantially the views of 
the matter which Mr. Cilley expressed 
freely to his friends on the morning of 
the fatal encounter: 

"I am driven to this meeting by a 
positive compulsion. I have done all 
that an honorable man could do to 
avert it. Why should I acknowledge 
that man to be a gentleman and a man 
of honor? In truth and conscience I 
could not do so, and still less can I 
have it so unreasonably extoriei from 
me by force and threat. I ha\e no ill- 
will nor disrespect toward Mr. Graves. 
He knows it, and I have repeatedly 
and fully expressed it. I abhor the idea 
of taking his life, and will do nothing 
not forced upon me in self-defence. 
The pretext of the challenge is absurd. 
I understand the conspiracy to destroy 
me aa a public man. But New England 
must not be trampled on, my name 
must not be disgraced, and I go to this 
field sustained by as higlh a motive of 
patriotism as ever led my grandfather 
or my brother to battle, as an unhappy 
duty, not to be shrunk from, to my 
honor, my principles, and my country." 

On the evening before the duel he 



charged one of his lady friends, should 
he not survive, to say to his wife that 
he "had endeavored to pursue that 
course in all things which she would 
approve and his own conscience dic- 
tated." 

In a biographical sketch of Mr. 
Cilley, published in the Democratic 
Review for September, 1838, Nathaniel 
Hawthorne says: 

"A challenge was never given on a 
more shadowy pretext; a duel was 
never pressed to a fatal close in the 
face of such open kindness as was ex- 
pressed by Mr. Cilley; and the conclu- 
sion is inevitable that Mr. Graves and 
his principal second, Mr. Wise, have 
gone further than their own dreadful 
code will warrant them, and overstepped 
the imaginary distinction which, on 
their own principles, separates man- 
slaug'hter from murder." 

Mr. Wise was not a man to rest silent 
under such opprobrium. On the 16th 
of March, 1838, he issued a long ad- 
dress to his constituents in which he 
gave his own account of the duel so far 
as he himself was concerned. He be- 
gan by saying that "the catastrophe 
had brought upon him much odium 
and leproach," but claimed that he 
was bound to act for Mr. Graves, be- 
cause, said he: 

"I felt obliged to do for him what I 
would have called on him to do for me. 
It is said that I myself was hostile to 
his antagonist. If so, I may have been 
incompetent, but I solemnly deny that I 
was hostile to Mr. Cilley. There had 
been a slight misunderstanding between 
us in debate, which passed off with 
the moment and left no trace of ani- 
mosity behind. But hostile to him or 
not, and though hostility might, per- 
haps, have incited another to take his 
life — dark and deadly such hate must 
have been — yet my conduct proves that 



CONDUCT OF WISE 



25 



I did earnestly endeavor to prevent the 
shedding of blood by reconciling his 
difference with my friend; and the his- 
tory of the tragedy proves that not 
only I but two other gentlemen of 
linown character and standing, who 
were never accused of hostility to him, 
and who might have overruled me by 
their voices and influence, could not re- 
concile that difference or prevent its 
result." 

He says, also, that he rebuked Graves 
for bearing the note from Mr. Webb, 
and that he told him that Mr. Cilley's 
reasons, as repeated by Mr. Graves, 
for refusing to receive the note "were 
very proper," and his answer, "cer- 
tainly satisfactory." Here is what he 
said Mr. Graves represented Mr. Cilley 
had in substance verbally declared: 
That, "in declining to receive the note 
he hoped it would not be thought dis- 
respectful to him (Mr. Graves); that 
he declined on the ground that he could 
not consent to be involved in personal 
difficulties with conductors of public 
journals for what he had thought 
proper to say in debate upon the floor, 
and that he did not decline upon any 
personal objection to Colonel Webb as 
a gentleman." Mr. Wise appears to 
have assented to the propriety of Mr. 
Gra\ es requiring this answer to be put 
in writing, and so came the challenge, 
the terms of which Mr. Wise said 
were regarded as "barbarous and such 
as might properly be declined; but it 
was thought they were intended to in- 
timidate; that the distance was so 
great as in some measure to mitigate 
the severity of the weapon, and there- 
fore I was advised that they S'hould be 
accepted." It was likewise sugg sted 
that the challenged party might be the 
first to fly from these terms. 

He speaks of his difficulty in procur- 
ing a suitable rifle for Mr. Graves, and 



admits that he had asked Mr. Jones to 
assist him in that particular. At the 
same time he says, "I wi.=hed to gain 
time not only to procure a fit rifle, but 
to afford an opportunity, if possible, to 
prevent the meeting." 

He quotes from Mr. Jones's note the 
passage in which he said to Mr. Wise 
that he had the pleasure to inform him 
that 'he had an excellent rifle in good 
order which was at the service of Mr. 
Graves, and remarks that, without 
waiting for an answer, Mr. Jones ten- 
dered to him "for the use of Mr. 
Graves, the rifle referred to," and its 
appendages. Thus, Mr. Wise says, "A 
weapon, not one of a pair, was ten- 
dered for the use of Mr. Graves in a 
manner that was considered taunting." 
Leaving it be inferred, of course, that 
one preferred to it had been reserved 
for Mr. Cilley. He contends, too, that 
Mr. Cilley "precipitated the time of 
meeting when the second of Mr. Graves 
was avowing a want of preparation and 
a desire for delay." 

He proceeds to say: 

"The distance appointed was eighty 
yards. It is my firm belief that the 
distance stepped off by Mr. Jones and 
myself, which we did pari passu, was 
nearer one hundred yards than eighty. 
The ground was measured before the 
choice of positions, and I believe that 
we both stepped with a view of pre- 
venting the parties from hitting each 
other. I kept my eye on Mr. Cilley. It 
was my duty to see he obeyed the 
rules. At the first exchange of shots I 
thought he fired, tJhough perfectly fair, 
too hurriedly, and his ball did not 
reach Mr. Graves, because he did not 
raise his rifle sufficiently high. Mr. 
Graves fired after Mr. Cilley." 

At the second shot, he says: 

"Mr. Graves's rifle went off quickly, 
and, as he told me afterwards, acci- 



26 



^HRteE GENERATIONS. 



dentally, and into fhe ground. Mr. Cll- 
ley drew up very deliberately, aimed, I 
feared, a deadly &hot, and fired. I 
thoug-ht lie had hit Mr. Graves. It was 
very apparent to me that Mr. Cilley 
had shot at the life of Mr. Graves. If. 
when Mr. Graves's rifle went off, with- 
out harm to him, he had discharged his 
in the air or re?erved his fire, the fight 
would have been at an end." 

Nevertheless, Mr. Cilley's friends 
•said that, even admitting that Mr. 
Wise was correct in his assertion that 
Mr. Cilley fired after the discharge of 
Mr. Graves's rifle, it was equally true, 
according to his own statement, that 
Mr. Graves, on the first exchange of 
shots, had done the same thing toward 
Mr. Cilley. It does not appear how 
Mr. Wise could reconcile his allegation 
in this regard with hiis official state- 
ment, conjointly with Mr. Jones, that 
the second shot was exchanged "in a 
manner perfectly fair and honorable to 
all parties," and that they bore their 
unqualified testimony to the fair and 
honorable manner in which the duel 
•was conducted. 

Between the second and third shots, 
in making the proposition he did, that 
Cilley should say that "in declining to 
receive Colonel Webb's note, he r.--- nt 
no disrespect to Mr. Graves, either di- 
rectly or indirectly," Mr. Wise says he 
went beyond his instructions; and that 
he understood Mr. Jones to say that 
"Mr. Cilley would not say I'htse words 
alone, nor .without adding words which 
did away the effect of the word 'indi- 
rectly,' and which left the parties ex- 
actly where they were when they came 
upon the ground." He says, "It was 
at the instance of Mr. Graves himself 
that I remarked to Mr. Jones, imme- 
diately previous to the last exchange of 
shots, 'If this matter is not termin- 
ated this shot, and is not settled, I 



shall propose to shorten the distance.' '' 

Later— February, 1839 — Mr. Wise 
availed himself of an opportunity to 
present his defence before the House of 
Representatives. I was there and 
heard it. He was wildly excited and 
defiant. Said he: 

"I am ready to be tried. Put me at 
your bar, and I will plead instantly. I 
am ready to say on the spot, I did on 
that occasion just what I will do again 
under similar circumstances. Let 
Puritans shudder as they may, I pro- 
claim that I belong to the class of 
Cavaliers, not to the Roundheads! 
You shall not taunt me. What are you 
doing? You have passed a penitentiary 
act [the anti-duelling law]. You are 
then bound to take the defence of 
character into your own hands, as you 
have taken arms from the hands of 
the cavalier. Will you do it? No! I 
call upon you, I call upon society, eith- 
er to defend me or give me back my 
arms. In the face of an approaching 
election, I say to my good constituents. 
. . . If you are determined I shall 
not defend myself when assailed, like 
a true knig-ht, do not send me to Con- 
gress, for I shall just as surely fig'ht, if 
occasion is given, as you send me; and 
so I shall ever continue until the holy 
religion of the Cross takes possession 
of my soul, which may God grant 
right early." 

Up to this time, and for nearly two 
years afterwards, Mr. Wise, in public 
estimation, stood out prominently as 
the one individual altogether the most 
deserving of censure in this matter. As 
he himself said in an appeal "to the 
public," in March, 1842, "The whole 
weight of an almost insupportable 
odium fell upon my reputation lor my 
conduct in the affair." 

But in the winter of that year, or 
earlier, the relations of some of the 



Conduct of clay. 



27 



parties to the transaction had become 
changed. Mr. Wise had espoused the 
cause of Pre-sident Tyler, thus separ- 
ating himself from his old friend Henry 
Clay, who was a candidate fur the 
presidency, and to whose fortunes 
Messrs. Graves and Webb, wi.h the 
Whig party generally, adhered. It be- 
gan to be whispered about that Mr. 
Clay had been consulted and exercised 
a controlling influence in the affair of 
the duel, and a direct charge to this ef- 
fect brought out Mr. Graves, on a call 
from Mr. Clay, in explanation. I will 
not extend this narrative by going at 
length into the particulars of the cor- 
respondence which followed, and in 
whidh Messrs. Wise, Graveisi, Clay, 
Reverdy Johnson, and Charles King 
took part. Suffice it to say that, ex- 
cept so far as Wite was concerned, all 
was said that could be to exculpate 
Mr. Clay, but, as must be admitted, 
not with entire success. It came out 
that he was early consulted by all these 
.gentlemen, and that he actually "drew 
the form of challenge which was final- 
ly adopted." It was a modification of 
the form submitted to him by Wise and 
Craves, and the latter states that "it 
was rather calculated to soften the 
language and not so completely to 
close the door to an adjustment of the 
difflculty." Mr. Wise says that when 
he and Mr. Graves called on Mr. Clay, 
in discussing the terms of the duel, 
which he (Wise) "protested against as 
unusual and barbarous," Mr. Clay re- 
marked that Mr. Graves was "a Ken- 
tuckian, and that no Kentuckian could 
back out from a lifie." 

Mr. Wise slated that— "Mr. Clay's 
friends particularly were very anxiius, 
for obvious reasons, not to involve his 
name especially in tl.e alVair. Thus 
many confidential facts remained un- 
known on both sides. Mr. Clay him- 



self, it is true, while all his friends 
were trembling lest the part he took in 
it should be disclosed, boldly came to 
me and said, 'Sir, it is a nine days' 
bubble! If they want to know what I 
did in the matter, tell them to call me 
before them and I will tell them.' This 
excited my admiration at the time, and 
was effectual to prevent me from un- 
necessarily bringing his name before 
the committee." 

After all, I think public sentiment, 
as at first expressed, was not material- 
ly modified by these later develop- 
ments, and that it remains unchanged 
as regards Wise's great culpabiliiy, 
notwithstanding Graves, in the course 
of their correspondence, declared to 
him, "I always have, and now do, most 
emphatically exempt you from all 
blame or censure growing out of your 
connection with the affair. I, and I 
only, am justly responsible for what- 
ever was done by myself or those rep- 
resenting me as my friends on that oc- 
casion." 

One of the most stinging accusations 
against Mr. Wise was made by ex- 
President John Quincy Adams, in the 
House of Representatives on the 26th 
of January, 1842, when a resolution, of- 
fered by Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia (killed 
by the bursting of the "Peacemaker" 
on the "Princeton," in February, 1S44), 
was under discussion, dei laring that 
Mr. Adams had U'stly incurred the 
censure of the House in presenting for 
its consideration an abolition petition 
for the dissolution of the Union. Mr. 
Wise took a leading part in the discus- 
sion, in the course of which the vener- 
able ex-President was led to say that, 
"four or five years ago, there came to 
the House a man [Wise] with his 
hands and face dripping with the blood 
of a murder, the blotches of which 
were yet hanging upon him." This, in 



^8 



T'HREE GENEHAf lOl^g. 



nearly the same langTiage, he twice re- 
peated, and at the same time said: "I 
never did beJeve but he [Wise] was 
the g^uilty man, and that the man who 
pulled the trigger was but an instru- 
ment in his hands. This was my belief 
in the beginning." 

Of the actors in this deplorable af- 
fair, the only survivor (December, 1S91) 
is George W. Jones, of Iowa, Mr. Cil- 
ley's second. Mr. Graves, after long 
and intense suffering, both mental and 
phy.sical, died in Loui.sville, Ky., on the 
27th of September, 184S, aged forty- 
three years. 

The public funerals held by Congress, 
and also in Augusta, Thomaston and 
other places were deeply impressive in 
their nature and called out a wealth of 
eulogy, and showed only too plainly 
the great hold that Jonathan Cilley 
had upon the people of tihe entire 
country. 

"There is a curious psychological 
fact connected with this matter," says 
Gen. J. P. Cilley. "Father was killed 
on Saturday, and the next day being 
Sunday, my mother took down a copy 
of Watts' Hymns, and began to turn 
the pages. Sihe had not heard of fath- 
er's death, and after turning a few 
leaves she found a hymn tJiat impress- 
ed her so profoundly that she marked 
the page, in order to refer to it again. 
A short time afterward she learned 
that the hymn in question was the very 
one sung at his funeral in the halls of 
Congress. It was the poem com- 
mencing with these lines: — 

"Far, far o'er hill and dale on the winds 

stealing 
Li.st to the toUin}^ hell, mournfully pealing; 
Hark ! hark I it seems to say, 
As melts those sounds away, 
So life's best joys decay 
AVhilst new their feeling. 

O'er a father's tomb see tlie orphan bendinfj. 
From the solemn churchyard's gloom hear the 

dirge ascending ; 



Hark ! Hark I it seems to say. 
How short ambition's sway, 
Life's joys and friendship's ray, 
In the dark grave ending." 

"In a few months my father's body 
was brought home from the Congres- 
sional burying ground in Washington. 
"U^hen the vessel reached Rockland, a 
company of friends took the bo ly fiom 
the boat and carried it to Thomaston 
on their shoulders, wihere elaborate and 
impressive services were held. It al- 
most seems that I have a dim recollec- 
tion of the event, although this may bt 
my own imagination. Even the people 
of the South denounced father's death 
as a murder. In the MaysA-ille, Ken- 
tucky, Monitor, a poem was printed a 
.■vhort time after the duel, entitled "A 
Lament for Hon. Jonathan Cilley." 
Here is the poem, but I cannot tell you 
the name of the author:— 
"And thou art dead and lowly laid. 
The foeman's dread, thy people's aid; 
And shall no requiem chant for thee, 
Son of the bold, the brave, the free? 
Thus saith the bard, as with trembling hand, 
He touched his harp to a solemn sound; 
Then softly rose a mournful strain, 
As those who weep for the early slain. 
Son of the North— of a hero's line. 
Why bend they o'er thy lowly shrine? 
Why stand these mourners in mute array, 
With weeds of woe in sad display, 
While many a chieftain, tall and true. 
With tears thy early fall bedew. 
And silent awe and gloomy shades, 
O'er the vast multitude pervades? 
Why waits that lady, so sad and lone, 
In her bower afar, her loved one's return? 
Tne swell of emotion is heard in her sighs. 
Ah! in vain, lovely lady, shalt thou listen to 

hear 
His accents of kindness again fall on thine ear, 
In the hall of his fathers his footsteps no more, 
lie lies a i)ale corpse on a far distant shore. 
Fell he in the battle as his fathers had done? 
Or fell he in phalanx, the gallant among? 
Ah ! as for the story too" tragic to tell, 
How the young and the noble so fatally fell : 
Too honest to falter, too proud to deny, 
Too brave to act craven, or dastardly fly. 
His truth or his valor he never could yield, 
A martyr to honor— he sank in the fleld." 



SONS OF JONATHAN CILDEY 



29 



Thus died the brave and gifted Jona- 
than Cilley. To our regret for the loss 
of that splendid genius must be added 
another grief— that he threw away his 
life for so sen^eieis a cause. True to 
his New England blood and training he 
was ever staunch and steadfast until 
he swerved in this final scene. If ho 
had a mistaken sense of honor he pail 
the forfeit, and we may now well 
spread garlands above his grave. Had 
not tiie grim messenger cut short that 
brilliant genius we know not to what 
splendid heights it mig-ht have mount- 
ed. In our imagination we will no 
longer dwell upon 'his grave, but pic- 
ture him as still rising on triumphant 
wing above all struggles and aspira- 
tions that may surround him on that 
farther shore. 

Greenleaf Cilley, son of Jonathan, 
born in Thomaston. Me., Oct. 27th, 1829 
and died at San Isidro, Argentina, 
South America. Feb. 5, 1899. He at- 
tended the school of the Rev. Mr. 
Parkhurst of Standish, Me. for one 
year, subsequently the Bath High 
school; was appointed as midshipman 
in the U. S. Navy, Feb. 26th. 1841, and 
was ordered to the frigate "Cumber- 
land," Sept. 1843. Sickness prevented his 
sailing in the vessel, which he subse- 
quently rejoined by order of the Navy 
Department in Naples, Italy. He 
served in the Cumberland and sloop of 
v.-ar "Plymouth" in the Mediterranian 
Squadron until Nov., 1845, and in the 
Plymouth on the Brazil station re- 
turning to New York in October, 1846, 
and was ordered to the Naval school at 
Annapolis, Md. After a month's so- 
journ there, he sought for and obtained 
orders for the seat of war in the Gulf 
of Mexico in the line of battleship 
"Ohio," 84 guns, was at the Naval bat- 



tery near Vera Cruz before and after 
the capitulation. Assisted the army 
division at the crossing of the Medelin 
river on its march to and from Alvara- 
do, was in the expedition to Tuspan, 
Mexico, and at its capture, being 
slightly wounded while storming the 
shore battery nearest the town. De- 
tached from the Ohio and ordered to 
the Naval academy, reporting there 
Jan., 1848. Graduated as passed mid- 
shipman the following July, and re- 
ceived three months leave of absence. 
At its expiration joined the frigate 
Raritan and served in it on the Home 
and Gulf station until detached in 
April, 1850. After three months leave, 
ordered to the transport "Fredonia." 
and conveyed from New York to Beni- 
cia, Cal., a battalion of the Fourth In- 
fantry. Made acting master in Callao, 
Peru, and served as such till joining 
the frigate St. Lawrence at Valparaiso, 
Chili, when he w-as appointed acting 
lieutenant in March, 1852, and finished 
the cruise in this frigate, returning to 
Norfolk, Va. in the spring of 1853. Af- 
ter a short leave was ordered to the 
store ship Lexington and made the 
trip to Spezzia. Italy, returning to New 
York in Dec. 1853. As soon as detach- 
ed, ordered to the coast survey steam- 
er Jefferson and left Philadelphia, Feb., 
1854 for San Francisco, Cal. on the 25th 
May of that year when about 120 miles 
from Penguin Island, Patagonia, and 
the third day of a hea^-y gale of wind, 
the vessel broached to and the masts 
were cut away to right her, fortunately 
the follo\\nng night the gale broke, and 
the steamer the following day reached 
Sea Bear bay and later Port Desire 
river, Patagonia. Here she was sur- 
veyed and condemned as unseaworthy. 
The captain, officers and crew took 
passage in the French bark "Aristide" 



30 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



to Montevideo, and from there were 
transferred to the store-ship Relief and 
conveyed to New York, arriving there 
Nov. 1854. Shortly after was ordered 
to the steamer "Legare" and served till 
June, 1855, surveying the Florida reef 
and bays. Joined the sloop of war 
"Saratoga" in Aug. as acting master, 
promoted to master, Sept. 14th, and to 
lieutenant, Sept. 15th, 1855. Served the 
entire cruise in the "Saratoga," and 
was in ;the affair at Graytown, Nicara- 
gua, when Walker and his filibusters 
were captured. After a short leave of 
absence, joined the coast steamer Het- 
zel and surveyed in the Nortii Carolina 
sound and Chesapeake bay until Nov., 
18r.8, when was detached and ordered to 
the steamer Metacomet, fitting out for 
t'he Paraguay expedition at Pensacola, 
Fla., took passage to her in the steam- 
er Arctic, arrived in Montevideo in the 
spring of 1859, and shortly after was 
ordered to the brig Dolphin and served 
in her until re-ordered to the steamer 
Pulaski (named changed from Meta- 
comet.) Served in this steamer as 
watch, executive officer, lieutenant 
commander and senior officer of the 
station, except an intermission of a few 
months in 1861, when attached to the 
frigate Congress, until she was sold in 
Jan., 1863. Promoted to lieutenant 
commander, 16th July, 1862. Touk pas- 
sage with his wife and child in the 
bark John Wesley and arrived in* New 
York in June, 1863. As soon as his ac- 
counts were settled as acting pay- 
master, took a trip to Niagara Falls, 
Thousand Islands, Montreal, Quebec, 
Saguenay, and White Mountains, ' at 
which latter place he received orders to 
the gunboat Unadilla, South Atlantic 
(Blockading Squadron, taking passage 
from Boston to Charleston. S. C. in the 
steamer Cirassian. After a short time 



in command of the Unadilla at Port 
Royal, was ordered to command the 
monitor Catskill off Charleston, S. C, 
and was engaged in blockading the in- 
ner 'harbor, and at times cannonading 
For.t Sumpter. In Jan., 1864 returned 
North, his daughter having died the 
previous month. In March, ordered to 
the steamer Fort Jackson and served 
in the North Atlantic Blockading 
Squadron off Wilmington, N. C. In a 
few months was ordered to the line of 
battle ship "New Hampshire," and took 
her from Portsmouth. N. H. to Port 
Royal, S. C, returning in the "Ver- 
mont." In August, was ordered to the 
"Colorado" steam frigate as executive 
officer; served in the North Atlantic 
Squadron until detached in Nov., 1864. 
Placed on the retired list 18th Marc'h, 
1865. Promoted to commander 12th 
May 1867. In May, 1866 he embarked 
with his wife and son in the bark 
"Ocean Pearl" and went to Montevideo, 
Uruguaj-, where he engaged in raising 
sheep on the Estancia Esmeralda, near 
Mercedes. On the breaking out of a 
revolution removed with his family to 
Buenos Ayres and resided in the city 
for a while, then moved to San Isidro, 
where he resided several years, a part 
of which time he ci'uised about the Del- 
ta of the Parana in the Chalana Luisa 
At the close of the Paraguayan war, he 
navigated from Montevideo to Rio de 
Janeiro and back, the steamer Villette, 
and subsequently commanded the 
steamer Angestura from Ascencion. 
Paraguay, to Colonia, I'ruguay. In 
July, 1874 he ascended the Parana and 
Paraguay rivers to Corumba, Brazil, 
and at that place engaged and fitted 
out a party of five men. witli whom he 
descended to the mouth of the river 
Negra. and was four months exploring 
the wilds of the Ba'hia Negra. Rt-turn- 



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SONS OF JONATHAN CILLEY 



31 



ed to Corumba and paid off his men, 
and in Jan., 1875, left for Central Boli- 
via, passing through Santiago, San 
Jose and Eguez, ttowns of Chequitos 
and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Samapata, 
to Sucre, one of the capitals of Bolivia. 
For many months he was employed 
making plans and estimates, and seek- 
ing from theBolivian Congress the con- 
cession of a railway from Bahia Negra 
to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Congress 
finally passed a bill authorizing the 
supreme Government to make terms, 
but before they could be executed a 
revolution occurred and nothing could 
be done. He then proceeded on to tlie 
Pacific ocean via Misque, Cochaibamba, 
Oruro, Tacna and Arica, w'here he took 
steamer to Valparaiso, and from that 
port embarked in the P. M. S. "Acon- 
cagua" June 1875. 

For many montlis engaged in bring- 
ing up the results of his surveys. Em- 
barking in iMarch, 1876 with his eldest 
son, Jonathan for the U. S. and re- 
mained there eight years. 

Captain Cilley returned to Buenos 
Ayres in Jan., 1884 and resided in the 
capital several years, moving to the 
town of "Xueve de Julio" in 1S91, and 
La Plata, Feb., 1893. In June the same 
j-«ar came with his son, Joseph, via. 
Southampton and London to the 
United States and visited the Colum- 
bian World's Fair Exposition at Chica- 
go, 111., and his relatives. Returned to 
Buenos Ayres in April, 1894. Mar- 
ried in Montevideo, Uruguay, S. A., 
13th May, 1861, Malvina, daughter of 
Gov. Luis and Maria (Saez) Vernet ox 
■Buenos Ayres, born 5th Feb., 1830, in 
the Malvina Islands, otherwise called 
Falkland Islands. Gov. Vernet was 
born in Hamburg, Ger. ; lived eleven 
years in Philadelphia and from there 
went to South America and married 



and established himself in business in 
Buenos Ayres. He was civil and mili- 
tar.v governor of the Malvina Islands 
in 1829-'31, when his colony was de- 
stroyed by Captain Duncan, command- 
ing the U. S. sloop of war, Lexington, 
subsequently tlie English government 
seized his possessions and have held 
them ever since by right of force. 
Capt. Cilley had six children, three 
bo.vs and three girls. 

The present Gen. Jonathan Prince 
Cilley has well sustained the reputation 
of the family line for military valor 
and intellectual vigor. He was born ifi 
1835 and graduated from Bowdoin Col- 
lege in the class of 1858. Two year.s 
later he was admitted to the practi.-e 
of law before the Knox county bar, 
and at once formed a partnership wiih 
Lysander Hill and opened an office in 
Thomaston. 

The practice of his profession was 
followed but a sihort time. The smoul- 
dering fires of rebellion broke over the 
nation and Mr. Cilley was one of the 
first men to spring to his country's 
call. In the early part of 1861 he en- 
listed one hundred and fifty men and 
his own name headed the list of volun- 
teers. It was intended that these men 
should form a light battery and H. B. 
Humphrey of Thomaston, offering to 
give the six guns required, provided 
that the state would complete the 
equipment of the battery. The War 
Department declined the offer on the 
ground that infantry only was needed 
at that time. When, however, it was 
known that cavalry also was to be 
raised in Maine, Mr. Cilley enlisted, 
and hi.s name stands first on the rolls 
of the First Maine Cavalry under -late 
Sept. 3d, 1861. He was subsequently 
made captain of Co. B, raised by him 



32 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



in the counties of Knox and Walclo, of 
which he remained in command until 
he was severely wounded in his right 
arm and shoulder, and taken prisoner 
at Middletown, Va., during the retreat 
of Gen. Banks from the Shenandoah 
Valley, May 24th, 1862. A short tinie 
after this misfortune, he received the 
commission of major, bearing date 
April 14tih, 1862. 

After being disabled by his wound 
for several months. Major Cilley was 
ordered by the War Derartment, April 
1st, IS'63, to report to Gen. John H. 
Martindale, military governor of Wash- 
ington, for special duty, and on the 7th 
was assigned to duty as Judge Advo- 
cate and Examining officer at the Cen- 
tral Guard house. He remained on this 
duty until Aug. 1st, when, although 
his wound was still unhealed, he again 
took the field and remained with his 
regiment until June 24th, 1S64, when he 
was. once more iwounded. He again re- 
ported for duty Sept. 24th, and took 
command of the regiment, having been 
promoted and mustered Lieut. Col., to 
rank from June 6th, 1S64. From this 
time until it was finally discharged .^nd 
paid at Augusta, Colonel Cilley was 
constantly present with* and in coin- 
mand of his regiment and at a later 
date received the brevet rank of briga- 
dier general for bravery at the battle 
of Dinwiddle Court House and Appo- 
mattox. 

The 'history of the First Maine Cav- 
airy is known to all. It was especial y 
complimented by Gen. Sheridan and is 
authorized to bear the names of three 
more battles upon its standaid than 
any other regiment of the army of the 
Potomac. This is the best evidenco of 
his efficiency as a military leader. In 
his regiment Gen. Cilley was the llrst 
man that enlisted, the first man 
wounded, and nearly the last mustered 



out. He was wounded a thirJ time at 
Dinwiddle Court House, but kept with 
his regiment. There are many anec- 
dotes of Gen. Cilley's services. His ;.c- 
count of the work of his regiment the 
nig'ht before and on the mo:ning of 
Lee's surrender is given for its clfar 
presentation of its service on that 
eventful day: 

"The regiment moved rapidly at 
first, but slowly as the hours of mid- 
night drew near and the rebel pickets 
drew bead on us. Back and still back 
we pressed them till our brigade, far 
from all support at the time, lay on 
the brow of Clover Hill before Appo- 
mattox Court House, on the road on 
which if he advanced at all, Lee must 
come out in the morning. The rebel 
pickets fired briskly at this point, but 
stopped as our advance halted. The 
hour was 1 a. m., April 9. We came 
dismounted, front into line, with the 
1st Maine on the left of the road and 
the rest of the brigade on the right, 
and one regiment in reserve. Behind a 
slight barrier of rails, without blankets, 
in the cold damp air of April, we wait- 
ed for morning and Gen. Dee's army. 
A line of dismounted vldettes was 
thrown out in our front to give warn- 
ing of approaching danger. Knowing 
the difficulty of placing such a line in 
the darkness, I personally attended to 
posting them, and when done a desire 
possessed me to learn something of the 
force in front. I advanced in front of 
the line, and stooping to prevent my 
body being seen against the line of the 
horizon, for I knew now how near the 
rebel videttes might be, I crept for- 
^vard — well, as far as I dared. I sat on 
the ground and listened to t'he rebel 
teamsters in the valley balow packing 
their wagons, with oaths and impreca- 
tions savoring of tired horses and 
wearied, angry men. Thought of the 




Lazell, 1 yr., 8. mos. Walter, 3 yrs. Jonathan, 5 yrs. 

GRANDCHILDREN OF GEN. J. P. CILLEY 



SONS OF JONATHAN CILLEY 



33 



morning:; of what our small force c<juld 
do to keep back the rebel hosts in 
front, not knowing that our infantry 
were marching all that night to take 
1 ost in lur rear. 

"Lee's foix'es tired and sleepy that 
morning, did not wake early, and the 
section of artillery accompanying us 
moved to the brow of the hill and 
caused them to open their eyes that 
pleasant Sunday morning by dropping 
shot and shell into the middle of their 
camp. For an hour or more after sun- 
rise, we watched a column of their 
cavalry move by our right, half a mile 
or so away. A© far as we were con- 
cerned, we could see nothing of any 
force prepared or placed to support us. 
It seemed as if we were alone and the 
army of Lee in our front. When tjieir 
skirmirihers and advance came in vieiw, 
never did the enemy more sluggishly 
come forward. Their line extended be- 
yond ours by twice its length, but our 
carbines held them in check till they 
commenced to lap round our brigade on 
the right and left, and sharp firing in 
front told us the heavy effort made to 
clear this road of its cavalry curtain. 
Slowly they rolled us back. We re- 
ceived and we inflicted loss. In ten 
short days, of which this was the end, 
our regiment lost in killed and wound- 
ed of those present for duty (seven 
killed or mortally wounded on thisday) 
one third its men and one-half its offi- 
cers. We w-eretoo sleepy to move rapidly 
We were too cross to be shoved by bullets. 
Back from the wooded crest of Clover 
Hill; back over an open field and a lit- 
tle rise; back down a long sloping in- 



cline — straightening our line at Its foot 
by the aid of a rail fence, and with our 
men in hand, — we charged up the in- 
cline or hill, to be again ordered back, 
and leaving one of our battery guns 
stalled at its foot. Back up a long rise 
of ground, covered with woods at the 
toj) — and the curtain of cavalry cover- 
ing the last scene or the rebellion was 
rolled fully up, and before the 
astonished vision of the rebel force 
stood Griffin with the 5th and Ord with 
the 24th Corps and a part of the 25th 
Corps. A colored division of the latter 
stepped into the place of our regiment. 
All night long had they marched, but 
how refreshing the sight of their black 
countenances at this time. At the 
spectacle the rebel host staggered 
back, and their whole line wavered as 
if each particular man w'as terror 
struck. The curtain fell on four years' 
fighting!" 

Among the classmates of Gen. Cilley 
were Col. Drew of Lewiston, Gen. 
Frank Fessenden of Portland and Hon. 
Edward B. Nealley of Bangor, and Gen. 
Ellis Spear of Washington, D. C. 

Gen. Cilley is now seventy years of 
age, hut excellently preserved. He is 
still in the harness and practicing law 
with his wife's son, Edward B. Bur- 
pee, in Rockland. He has been twice 
married, and two children have come to 
bless his home. The son, Jonathan P., 
Jr., is now deceased, but the daughter, 
Mrs. Walter G. Tibbetts, now residing 
in Alameda, Cal., and her bright and 
handsome children have been photo- 
graphed for this article. 



JONATHAN LONGFELLOW 



The Father of Sarah, Wife of General 

Joseph Cilley 



[By John Scales, A. M.j 



Jonathan Longfellow was born May 
23, 1714, at Hampton Falls; he died in 
1774 at Machias, Me.; so he was only 
sixty years old, but during those three 
score years he was one of the busiest 
men in New Hampshire. His father, 
Nathan Longfellow, was born in 1690, 
the youngest of six children, being born 
while his father. Ensign William Long- 
fellow, w'as away on a military expedi- 
tion, under Governor Phips, to captui'e 
Quebec. Thej^ did not capture that city, 
but instead lost some of the fleet by 
shipwreck on Anticosti Island, and also 
several lives were lost, among whom 
vi-as Ensign Longfellow. 

William Longfellow was born at 
Horsforth, Eng., in 1651, so when he 
died in 1690 he was not quite forty 
years old. He came to Newbury, Mass., 
about 1670, and married Ann Sewall in 
1678 and resided at Newbury the rest of 
his years, engaged in trade, keeping a 
store at the first falls of Parker river, 
at the head of tide water in that town. 
Concerning his ancestors in England, 
the Rev. Robert CoUyer wrote an inter- 
esting article a few years ago. Mr. 
CoUyer had recently visited the poet, 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which 
visit caused him to write of the uoet's 
early ancestors in England, who lived 



in the same section of the country as 
CoUyer's ancestors. In passing it may 
be well to state that the great poet was 
fifth in descent from the immigrant 
William, through Stephen Longfellow, 
the blacksmith; Stephen Longfellow, 
the schoolmaster; Stephen Longfellow, 
the judge; and Stephen Longfellow, one 
of Maine's great lawyers. Henry Wads- 
worlh Longfellow's grandfather, 

Stephen the Judge, was cousin to Jona- 
than the Judge, the subject of this pa- 
per. William Longfellow, the immi- 
grant, was son of William, grandson 
of Edward, great-grandson of Thomas 
and great-greatgrandson of Percival 
Longfellow, who was born about A. D. 
1500. Rev. Robert Collyer, English born, 
but one of the greatest preachers Am- 
erica has had, often visited the poet 
Longfellow. After one of these visits 
he wrote: 

"One reason for our meetings was 
that we might wander together in 
thought through the green lanes, past 
the neat hedgerows and over the grassy 
meadows that were familiar to the feet 
of his ancestors three hundred years 
ago. I had sat in the same old church- 
es they did; I had wondered, as they 
had at the old warrior In his armor of 
chain mail; I had stood at the same 



JONATHAN LONGFELLOW. 



35 



font at which the child CWilliam the 
immigrant) was baptized, from whom 
our good poet had sprung; and in the 
old churchyard the dust of his fore- 
fathers lay side by side with that of 
mine. 

"The old home was Ilkley, in York- 
shire. I have copies of the old charters 
and surveys of the town that date back 
almost to the Conquest, but no Lone- 
fellow appears before 1510, and then 
within ten miles of Ilkley. Those Long- 
fellows were simply sons of the soil. 
The first one mentioned was a day la- 
borer, and he paid four pence as his 
share to help Henry VIII. fight against 
France. Later these Loagfellows be- 
came church wardens and overseers of 
highways, and gradually climbed to 
higher places. 

"Those ancient Longfellows were as 
purely bits of nature as the oaks in the 
woods or the heather on the hillside. 
They had a certain old Saxon insistence 
upon what they believed was their 
right. They believed that game be- 
longed to them as much as the great 
lords and landowners, hence the Long- 
fellows were leaders in raids on same. 
It was the fight of the Saxon against 
the Norman. Our Longfellow is the 
flower of all the centuries of his family 
history, and he makes the race immor- 
tal." 

Jonathan Longfellow's mother was 
Mary Green, daughter of Capt. Jacob 
Green and grand-daughter of Judge 
Henrj" Green, who was the earliest 
owner of the falls, at Hampton Falls 
river, where he built and the family for 
four generations owned a grist-mill, 
and a saw-mill, where now are 
the mills owned by Mrs. John 
W. Dodge. It was in the house 
near these mills that Jonathan Longfel- 
low was born. Henry Green held vari- 



ous offices in the town and orovince, 
being Justice of the Court of Common 
Sessions: Royal Councellor, 1685-169S, 
and Chief Justice of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, 1697-1698. His son, Capt. 
Jacob Green, was prominent in town 
affairs and captain of a military com- 
nany from 1699 to 1720, a period when 
the Indians and French made the office 
of captain anything but a sinecure po- 
sition. 

Jonathan Longfellow's grandmother, 
Ann Sewall, was sister to Judge Samuel 
Sewall one of Massachusetts' 
most distinguished jurists of 

the Colonial period. She was 
born while her parents were on the 
voyage across the Atlantic, it being 
their second passage. Her father, 
Henry Sewall, Jr., and grandfather, 
Henry Sewall, Sr., were the chief men 
in founding Newbury, Mass., being very 
wealthy and staunch Puritans. Ann 
Sewall's great grandfather, Henry Sew- 
all, was mayor of Coventry, Eng., 1589- 
1606, being a very wealthy linen draper, 
u-hose ancestry is traced back to before 
the Conquest, to a Saxon I'hane who 
spelled his name "Saswald," and owned 
great possessions in lands and at the 
place of his residence built and owned a 
3hurch. Mayor Sewall died in 1628. 

Such were the ancestors of Jonathan 
Longfellow. He was a well-born, 
thoroughbred Englishman. Being the 
eldest of Nathan Longfellow's children, 
he was the pet of his grandfather.Capt. 
Jacob Green and at an early age was 
instructed in the management of the 
grist-mill and the saw-mill, which the 
captain owned at the Falls, and his 
education otherwise was carefully look- 
ed after. When Jonathan was twelve 
years old his grandfather died, leaving 
the larger part of his large property to 
his daughter, Marj' Longfellow. When 



36 



THREE GENERATIONS. 



Jonathan was sevent<»en years old his 
father died, which entailed large busi- 
ness interests on the widow, but she 
managed all with skill and good judg- 
ment, being assisted by her oldest son, 
Jonathan. A few months before he was 
eighteen years old he became united in 
marriage with Mercy Clark, who was 
of the same age as himself. They com- 
menced housekeeping with his mother, 
and he managed the mills and the 
farm. Thus nearly ten years of his life 
was passed, busily and happily, and he 
was known as "Jonathan Longfellow, 
the Miller." 

Just a few lines about Mercy Clark, 
his wife. She was born in Ni-;wbury, 
Mass., December 26, 1714, where she re- 
sided till she married and settled at 
Hampton Falls. She was a daughter of 
Mr. Henrj' Clark and his wife, Eliza- 
beth Greenleaf. Henrj' was the son of 
Ensign Nathaniel Clark of Rowley and 
Elizabeth Somerby, his wife. Nathan- 
iel was naval oflicer at Newbury and 
Salem for several years. He was en- 
sign of the Rowley company of militia, 
which went with Sir William Phips on 
the expedition to Quebec in 1690, the 
eame in which Ensign William Longfel- 
low lost his life. W^hile at sea, before 
reaching the St. Lawrence river. Ensign 
Clark lost his life by accident. 

Mercy Clark's mother, Elizabeth 
Greenleaf was a daughter of Capt. 
Stephen Greenleaf, Jr., and Elizabeth 
Gerrish, his wife; and he was the son 
of Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Sr., and his 
wife, Elizabeth Coffin, daughter of 
Judge Tristram Coffin of Newbury and 
Nantucket. Captain Stephen, Sr., com- 
vnanded a company of Newbury men in 
.-i ■ William Phips' expedition of 1690. 
al -eady mentioned. He was shipwrecked 
on Anticosti Island, with Ensign Long- 
fellow, but managed to get home alive. 



These Greenleafs were distinguished in 
military and civil affairs in the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony. John Greenleaf 
Whlttier, the poet, was a great-grand- 
son of Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Jr. 
Such were the ancestors of Mercy 
Clark Longfellow. 

Mary Green Longfellow died about 
1741, and her death made it necessary 
to divide the property which had been 
held nearly intact from the death of her 
father, Capt. Jacob Green, in 1726. Soon 
after the death of his mother, Jona- 
than Longfellow's name appears in the 
records relating to Nottingham, and for 
more than a score of years he resided 
In that part ol the town, now Deerfield, 
but which was not made a separate 
town till he had removed to Rye. H( 
was a land speculator and was one of 
the active promoters in settling the 
town of Nottingham, together with the 
Bartletts, the Cilleys, the Batchelders, 
th'i Butlers, the Marstons and other 
noted families of that town, in its early 
history. Soon after going there his 
name appears as an officer of the mi- 
litia, which was required to keep guard 
against attacks by Indians, and before 
he left the town he had risen to be cap- 
tain. The first thing he had to do, 
when he went to Nottingham to settle, 
was to build a garrison, which he lo- 
cated on a little hill on the opposite 
side of the road from the present Mars- 
ton residence, about half a mile below 
Deerfield Parade. This location was 
then on the frontier of civilization. 
Between that and Canada on the north 
there was not the habitation of a whita 
man. Through that vast wilderness 
the Indians and their allies, 
the French, ruthless foes of the 
English settlements, came and were 
ever on the watch, during that period, 
to strike blows of destruction or to in- 




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Jonathan longfellow. 



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flict as much loss of property as possi- 
ble. Hence it is plain to be seen that 
Captain Longfellow and his brave wife 
had no easv task on that frontier 
guard-line. They were young people 
then, just past thirty years of age, with 
a family of six children, the eldest be- 
ing ten years old. Accompanying this 
article is a picture of that old garrison, 
which was torn down only a few years 
agx). The garrison was the first house 
built in what isnow Deerfield. The farm, 
one of the best in town was first owned 
by a Mr. Leavitt, for about six months, 
who then sold it to Jonathan Long-fel- 
low, receiving in payment a certain 
number of Negro slaves. Where Long- 
fellow got the slaves, or how he hap- 
pened to be dealing in such property 
the writer has not been able to find 
out; but the probability is that they 
came from Africa on some of those 
Newburyport or Salem ships which ex- 
ported New England rum to the Dark 
Continent and exchanged it for young 
Negroes. Sometimes the ship masters car 
ried their cargoes of black men and 
women to the West Indies and ex- 
changed them for sugar and molasses, 
which they brought home. At other 
times they brought them home direct 
and sold them in Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire towns. From 1740 till 
after the close of the Revolution slaves 
were owned in nearly all the larger 
towns in New Hampshire. Captain 
Longfellow, being an enterprising and 
hustling business man, bought and sold 
the slaves. He did not give all he had 
to Leavitt, as he had some left after he 
built and dwelt in the garrison. His 
sons-in-law, Joseph Cilley and Nathan- 
iel Batchelder, had some of them after 
he had removed from the town. Some 
of the descendants of those slaves live 
in Exeter now, worthy citizens, un- 



mindful of their ancestry. 

The gairison house was very long and 
wide, but rather low story. It had 
three large rooms and two smaller bed- 
rooms on the first floor; ascent to the 
roof was made through the immense 
garret by ladders, from which observa- 
tions could be made to all points of 
compass, to watch the approach of any 
enomv. The garret was used for a gen- 
eral storeroom, and for sleeping apart- 
ments when the guests were numerous, 
as, no doubt, they often times were. The 
walls were made of hewn timbers, of 
great size. The rooms, except the kit- 
chen, were ceiled at the top and sides 
with sheathing, sawed from old timber 
pines of immense size. In the period of 
Indian wars it had a stockade which 
enclosed a large yard; these timbers 
standing on end reached above the 
eaves of the house, so nothing of the 
outer world could be seen. There was 
a large gate to the stockade for ad- 
mittance, to the yard. When this was 
closed it was fastened on the inside 
with a strong bar, so everything was 
safe when that was closed. This yard 
would enclose teams, if necessary: it 
had sheltered many a family in time of 
danger from the Indians. At one time 
a family living in the vicinity of Rand's 
Corner, by the name of Batchelder, was 
forced to lice to this garrison. The 
family consisted of a husband, wife and 
two children. One bright moonlight 
night, while the husband and children 
slept, the wife sat by the fire knitting; 
she heard a noise in front of the house, 
which sounded suspicious. She hastily 
covered the fire with ashes, blew out 
the candle and awakened her huS'band 
with the least possible noise. In a few 
moments a noise at tlie front door in- 
dicated plainly that the Indians were 
about thii house. Knowing that It 



38 



fpHREE (iENERATIO^^!^, 



would be folly to attempt to defend 
their home, they wrapped the younser 
child in blankets and took the older by 
the hands and, seizing the trusty gun, 
they quietly made their escape through 
the back door to the forest near at 
hand, and hastened to the Longfellow 
garrison. They succeeded in getting in- 
side of that big gate and barred it se- 
curely, though the wife was nearly ex- 
hausted. Their house was burned by 
the Indians, but they found a safe shel- 
ter at the garrison, together with sev- 
eral other families who had suffered in 
the same Indian raid. 

Col. Joseph Cilley, who was born in 
1793, was grandson of General Joseph 
and Sarah Longfellow Cilley. She died 
in 1811, so that he ''emembered his 
grandmother perfectly. Colonel Cilley 
lived to be past ninety years of age, 
and in his later days delighted to talk 
of his grandmother. He said he had 
visited the old garrison with her, in 
which she lived during Indian times 
with her parents. One thing that im- 
pressed his boyish mind strongly was 
the huge chimney, with the immense 
fireplaces, in the corners of which one 
or two could sit comfortably. The kit- 
chen had a dresser, so called, which 
filled the place of the modern sideboard. 
Its capacious shelves were filled with 
shining pewter platters and plates and 
other household utensils. The floors 
were sanded with white sea sand and 
were kept scrupulously clean. Whon 
company was to be entertained the 
while sand was switched into pretty 
figures with hemlock brooms, by the 
skillful hands of the housewife or her 
maids. 

During the period from 1745 to 1760 
the Indians made fi ;;quent raids in that 
territory, stealing or killing cattle and 
horses. They cut the (lesh fiom the 



bones and cut out the toiigueS, which 
lhe>' cured in smoke to preserve for 
food on their travels. Frequentiy it waa 
dangerous for housewives to go out to 
milk the crjws unless they had a man 
on guard with a trusty gun. When on" 
neighbor visited another an armed man 
had to go with her for protection. 

From the Nottingham town records it 
appears tha^, "At a meeting of the Pro- 
prietors, held at the block house (on 
the Square), September 8, 1742, Mr. 
Jonathan Longfellow was chosen As- 
sessor for the Proprietors, and Lieut. 
Joseph Cilley, Collector." These gen- 
tlemen continued to hold those offices 
for several years in succession. Later 
they were brothers-in-law, Lieutenant 
Cilley's son, Joseph, the famous colonel 
of the Revolution, marrying Mr. Long- 
fellow's daughter, Sarah, November 4, 
1756. 

Again, August 12, 1752, the records 
say: "Ensign Jonathan Longfellow 
was elected one of the Selectmen; also 
was appointed one of a committee to 
treat with authorities of the town of 
Durham relative to building a highway 
from Nottingham Square to Durham 
village." 

Frequently, in 1747, 1748 and 1749, the 
Provincial Government stationed sol- 
diers at Longfellow's garrison and 
placed him in command. It was their 
duty to range back and forth over a 
line fifteen miles in length, through the 
forests from Rochester to Chester, and 
to give protection to the farmers. Some- 
times as many as thirty soldiers were 
on duty. The following from the Pro- 
vincial Records will give an idea of how 
Gov. Benning Wentworth and his 
Councillors conducted the war with the 
Indians and French. It is copied from 
the Journal of the House. 

"Saturday 29th August, 1747. Whereaa 



iONATiiA^ LONGFELLOW. 



39 



Capt. Jonathan Longfellow, bj- a war- 
rant from ye Governor has Inlisted 
thirty men to go out after ye Indians, 
upon ye Scalp bounty. But represent- 
ing to the House that ye men cannot 
furnish themselves with Provisions and 
Ammunition, therefore: 

"Voted, That Sd Longfellow be sup- 
plied with one month's Provisions & 
fifteen pounds of powder & thirty 
Pound.s of Bullets for Sd men. he to re- 
ceive the Provisions from Coll. Oilman 
at Exeter, Sd Longfellow to give a 
Rect for ye same & to account and 
pay therefor if it appears Yt be not 
used, or if the men recover any scalps, 
ye price of ye Provisions and Ammun- 
ition to be deducted out of ye Bounty 
on ye Scalps, &: Yt Said Lonerfellow 
keep a Journal of ye Time & Travel, 
while he is out on this affair, to be ren- 
dered to ye Genl Assembly on Oath." 

The writer has not been able to find 
a copy of Captain Longfellow's journal 
nor any statement of how many Indian 
scalps were captured and the amount 
of bounty paid. 

Captain Longfellow was one of the 
first to start a movement which re- 
sulted in the division of the town of 
Nottingham, and the incorporation of 
the town of Deerfield. The act of in- 
corporation was not granted till Janu- 
ary S, 1766, at which time Mr. Longfel- 
low was in Machias, Me., having lefi 
New Hampshire two years before that. 
The first petition for it is dated "Not- 
tingham, Febry 23, 1756;" the first 
signer is Jonathan Longfellow; among 
the other signers appears the name of 
Green Longfellow, a younger brother of 
Jonathan, who was then about twenty- 
five years old, having been born Apri- 
3, 'ITSl. The petition was probably 
drawn by Mr. Longfellow and its argu- 
ments are strong and well expressed. 



the point of it all being that the in- 
habitants of the Deerfield parish were 
not allowed to use their money raisec! 
by taxation "for Preaching the Gosper 
and teaching the Children, which are 
matters of Great importance to all His 
Majesties Good Subjects, etc." 

Mr. Longfellow removed from Not- 
tingham to Rye about 1761, leaving two 
of his daughters, Mary and Sarah, who 
had married respectively Nathaniel 
Batchelder and Joseph Cilley, and a 
son, Jacob, and a brother, Green Long- 
fellow. Mary Longfellow Batchelder, 
above mentioned, is the writer's great- 
grandmother, being the grandmother of 
his mother, Betsey True Scales. Not 
much is known of his life at Rye. 

Captain Longfellow removed from 
Rye, N. H., to Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, 
in 1764, where he remained one year. In 
1765 they sent for him to cross over the 
bay to Machias, Me., to build a grist- 
mill and a saw-mill, locally called the 
"Dublin" mills. He knew all about that 
sort of work from his early training 
and experience at Hampton Falls, 
where he had been trained by his father 
and grandfather. What induced him to 
emigrate from New Hampshire to Nova 
Scotia is not known by any of his de- 
scendants. After settling in Machiaa 
he remained there till his death, in 
1774. He brought with him to Machias 
his wife and three youngest sons, Dan- 
iel, David and Jonathan, aged respect- 
ively sixteen, fourteen and nine years. 
Two or three of his children remained 
at Cornwall is. There were twelve in 
all, seven sons and five daughters. The 
first-born was Stephen, 19 July, 1731; 
the last-born was Jonathan, 28 April, 
1756, who died young at Machias. De- 
scendants of two sons, Nathan, born 30 
December, 1743, and Daniel, born 16 
December, 17.''>1, arc living in Machiaa 



40 



•jCttREE GENERATIONS^. 



and other parts of eastern Maine at 
this time. 

Captain Longfellow built the mills 
and run them and took a leading oart 
in town affairs, holding at one time or 
another all of the important town of- 
fices. In 1768 he was commissioned by 
the Governor of Massachusetts a jus- 
tice, and held the first court ever held 
in Maine, east of the Penobscot river. 
The court records of Judge Liongfellow 
are extant at Machias, and manifest 
knowledge of law and wisdom and 
mercy in administering it. He was 
moderator of the first proprietary meet- 
ing of the town of Machias, Hth Sep- 
tember, 17'iO, and was one of their lead- 
ing men till his death, four years later. 



According to tradition. Judge Long- 
fellow was a lail, well-proportioned, 
fine-looking man. He possessed su- 
perior mental powers and was a man of 
great executive ability as a business 
manager. He was an extensive land- 
owner in Nottingham and was reputed 
to be very wealthy, as men then rank- 
ed in riches. He disposed of all of his 
holdings in that town before going to 
Nova Scotia. That he was esteemed 
by his immediate descendants is mani- 
fest by the fact that grandsons, great- 
grandsons, and great-great-grandsons 
were named for him, Jonathan Long- 
fellow, in families not otherwise bear- 
ing the Longfellow name. 




HENRY A. WISE'S ACCOUNT OF THE DUEL 



The following extracts from an article by Hon. John S. Wise in the Saturday 
Evening Post of June 2, 1906, gives informatian concerning Henry Clay's 
connection with the affair of Cilley and Graves, which, though alleged, has 
never until this account been fully proved. Only that part of the article is 
given which relates to Jonathan Cilley : 



The most serious of my father's ex- 
periences in dueling was that in the fa- 
mous Cilley and Graves duel, into which 
he was dragged, against his will, to act 
as second for a man he knew but slight- 
ly and for whom he really cared noth- 
ing. 

The Honorable Jonathan Cilley, a gal- 
lant, impetuous, high-tempered man, 
entered Congress from Maine with the 
oft-avowed feeling that the members of 
Congress from the North allowed the 
Southern members to hector and lord it 
over them too freely — that they ought 
to respond to such attacks in kind, and 
that, when they had done so a few 
times, such arrogance would cease. 

The following account of my father's 
connection with the affair is cooled 
from an original manuscript drawn up 
by him and, as late as 1875, submitted 
to and approved by his lifelong friend, 
the Honorable George W. Jones, of 
Iowa, who was Mr. ClUey's second. It 
is valuable because it has never before 
been published, and is instructive be- 
cause it shows some of the points of 
finesse in the science of dueling. It is 
not published in full because of sundry 
strictures upon James Watson Webb, 



which onlv tend to revive bitterness: 

"According to my recollection I was 
not at Washington, but at home in Ac- 
comac, Virginia, when the speech of 
Cilley was made and published. I re- 
turned to Washington after the time 
when Webb engaged Mr. Graves' ser- 
vices as a second and put the challenge 
into Graves' hands, and he. Graves, had 
delivered it. At no time did I ever con- 
fer with Webb about the matter, either 
alone or with Mr. Graves or others. He 
knew nothing of my advice or counsel 
to Mr. Graves. 

"But whether I had returned to Wash- 
ington or not, I positively aver that the 
challenge was delivered to Graves and 
by him delivered to Cilley, without any 
knowledge or information of the fact 
on my part. It was only after the 
challenge was tendered that I was in- 
formed by Mr. Graves or any one else 
of its existence. I learned from Mr. 
Graves himself, who sought my counsel, 
all I ever knew, or was informed of be- 
fore the fight, of what occurred between 
him, and Mr. Cilley on the presentation 
of the challenge. Mr. Graves' state- 
ment to me was in brief and in sub- 
stance as follows: He said, as soon as 



42 



¥MfeEE dEMERA¥tO?<S. 



he obtained a private interview with 
Mr. Cilley, he announced the object of 
his visit. He (Mr. Cilley) showed no 
surprise and seemed to be prepared for 
the call. He immediately declined to 
accept the challenge, on the sole 
srround that he would not admit his 
responsibility for words spoken by him 
in debate in the House. Mr. Graves 
asked him to say whether he declined 
on the ground that his principal, James 
Watson Webb, was not a gentleman. 
Mr. Cilley replied that he would not af- 
firm or disclaim any reason other than 
that he was not responsible for words 
spoken by him in debate in the House. 
Mr. Graves then inquired whether that 
was his only ground of declining. Mr. 
Cilley replied that the only ground he 
chose to stand upon was his irresponsi- 
bility to an editor for words spoken in 
debate in the House. Mr. Graves asked 
him whether that meant to disclaim 
any other ground. Mr. Cilley repeated 
that he meant not to affirm or disclaim 
any other ground. 

"Mr. Graves informed me that, upon 
this, he reported to his principal that 
Mr. Cilley did not put his refusal to 
accept on the ground that James Wat- 
son Webb was not a gentleman but up- 
on the sole ground stated. My advice 
to him was that the reason exoressed 
was suflicient, but some one else ad- 
vised (whom I am not and never was 
informed) that he ought to require Mr. 
Cilley to put his reason for declining in 
writing. I told him that was regular 
and proper, but advised him to the pre- 
ferable course to report his own state- 
ment and submit it to Mr. Cilley for 
affirmance or contradiction: that as 
Mr. Cilley put his declining on tlie 
ground solely of irresponsibility, he was 
justified in saying that he did not put 
it on the ground of Webb's character or 



any other ground, and that he had no 
right to demand of him a disclaimer of 
any other ground. Upon this Mr. 
Graves drew a paper in substance, re- 
citing his statement, and adding that, 
upon that, he had reported and would 
publish, if necessary, that Mr. Cilley 
had not decliiied on the ground that 
Webb was not a gentleman. What he 
did with that paper I am not and never 
was informed; but he returned it to me 
saying that he could not prevail on Mr. 
Cilley to affirm or to deny his state- 
ment, or to put his only reason assigned 
for declining in writing. 

"I told him neither was necessary, as 
he had only to make and publish his 
statement that Mr. Cilley did not put 
himself on the ground that Webb was 
not a gentleman, and leave the latter to 
acquiesce in or contradict his state- 
ment. If he acquiesced in it, well; if 
not, it would raise an issue of veracity 
between him and Mr. Cilley, and I was 
sure that Mr. Cilley would disclaim any 
impeachment of his. Graves', veracity, 
whilst he could easib' explain any re- 
servation of his right to express any 
other reason but the one assigned. Mr. 
Graves had in fact drawn a challenge 
on the ground that Mi-. Cilley's course 
impliedly, at least, impeached his ver- 
acitv, but after conference with me 
alone he asked me to meet him at Mr. 
Clay's room early in the evening. 

"After tea, I called with Mr. Graves 
on Mr. Clay, and already assembled 
there were Mr. Clay, Mr. John J. Crit- 
tenden and Mr. Richard Menefee. They 
were all consulted. Mr. Graves handed 
to Mr. Clay the challenge he had writ- 
ten. Mr. Clay said immediately that 
the call was not based on the true is- 
sues. Mr. Cilley had refused to dis- 
claim personal exceptions to Webb and 
by the Code of Dueling Graves was 



MfiNHY A. WISE'S ACCOtINT Ot^ THK DUEL. 



43 



bound to demand such disclaimer, or 
stand in the shoes of his principal. He 
cast aside the challenge drawn by 
Graves, and with liis own hand and pen 
drew the challenge which was handed 
to Mr. Cilley. I immediately objected 
to the form drawn by Mr. Clay, for the 
reason that it put the call upon a punc- 
tilio which never could be and never 
was settled without blood; that if Mr. 
Graves put his call on the point of his 
own veracity, Mr. Cilley had but to 
disclaim that, and I was sure he would, 
and that would end Graves' interposi- 
tion in the affair. Mr. Crittenden and 
Mr. Menefee sided with Mr. Clay. Mr. 
Graves immediately copied the paper 
written by Mr. Clay, the oriprinal of 
which I have kept, an9 Mr. Graves de- 
stroyed the form of challenge written 
by himself. 

"I then declined to bear the note 
drawn by Mr. Clay for reason of my 
stated ob.iection. It left no room for 
adjustment or explanation and the 
meeting would necessarily be fatal. 
Messrs. Clay, Crittenden and Menefee 
all three protested with me for declin- 
ing to act as second; and I persisted 
until Mr. Graves with great feeling rose 
erect on his feet from his chair, and 
said: 'Mr. Wise, can you expect me to 
be governed by your counsel alone 
Against that of both the Senators of my 
state and colleague in the House of 
Representatives, Mr. Menefee, after a 
full hearing of your objections to the 
ground of challenge, and after they have 
been overruled by older heads than 
your own? If you do,' he continued, 
with his finger pointed to me, 'I call 
these colleagues to remember that when 
you were absent from your seat in the 
House, and from the city of Washing- 
ton, I took up your defense against an 
attack upon you by Mr. Cilley and was 



ready to stand in your rilace to meet 
any and all responsibility for you.' 
[Note: Nothing in the printed debate 
shows this alleged fact.] 'And now I 
here say to you that I have more confi- 
dence in your skill as second than I 
have in any other person; and if you 
will not serve me and I am brought 
dead or wounded from the field, I call 
these gentlemen to witness that I shall 
attribute any disaster to me to the 
want or absence of your skill and e.v- 
perience.' 

"I was touched deeply by this appeal 
and said at once with emotion: 'Mr. 
Graves, if you put your request to act 
for you on that ground, I am left no 
election. I will carry the challenge.' 

"I did so the next morning, and was 
careful to keep Mr. Clay's autogranh 
original — and it was well I did so, as 
after events proved. You promptly 
brought the acceptance by Mr. Cilley 
and the terms of the duel to me at my 
room. I was alone, with my case of 
new English nine-inch dueling-pistols 
open, examining their order and condi- 
tion. You quietly tapped at my door, l 
answered, 'Come in.' and I can see your 
honest old face now, as you entered 
brusquely, saying: 'Ha! You'll have no 
use for them.' You looked at the pis- 
tols and then handed me the accept- 
ance and terms. I reserved any reply 
then, and after a little chat about the 
rifle as a lawful weapon and my igno- 
rance where to procure a reliable one, 
you retired. 

"I sought Mr. Graves and told him 
that I should object to the rifle. He 
again took me to Mr. Clay. At once 
Mr. Clay said: 'He is a Kentuckian 
and can never back from a rifle.' . . 

"What occurred afterward, on the 
field and elsewhere, our joint and sev- 
eral statementsmade immediately after- 



44 



THREE GENERAtlOJ4S. 



the duel show. But there was one 
subject of reproach to you and myself, 
which neither could explain withoui 
damaging our principals. Mr. Graves 
had three seconds, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. 
Menefee and myself; and Mr. Cilley had 
two advisory seconds, Mr. Duncan and 
Mr. Bynum, besides yourself. Now, no 
step was taken by nie without consul- 
tation and agreement with Messrs, 
Crittenden and Menefee; and I am con 
fident that you acted with the consent 
and approval of Messrs. Duncan and 
Bynum. These four gentlemen were 
just as responsible for the whole con- 
duct of the affair as you and I, yet you 
and I alone were ever assailed for the 
'barbarous three exchanges of shots.' 
Now you and I know that there was 
really but one deliberate exchange of 
shots; the third time after each party, 



in turn— Cilley in his first shot and 
Graves in his second — had blundered in 
his fire, and they would not and could 
not leave tho ground under the acci- 
dents which would have caused misap- 
prehension and perhaps ridicule " 

But the Cilley-Graves duel made a 
tremendous storm throughout the coun- 
try. Nothing -was done about it offi- 
cially, for dueling was countenanced, 
more or less, but it fas a long time be- 
fore the bitterness and recrimination 
about the Cilley-Graves duel subsided. 
It was brought up against Clay in his 
next candidacy, and his attempts to 
shuffle off responsibility upon others 
caused a breach between him and my 
father, who charged him with selfishly 
seeking to relieve himself from the 
odium of a duel for which he, more 
than .any living man, was responsible. 




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